Something With No Meaning
by Sunban
Summary: When the Strawhats arrive in a new town, Zoro finds Sanji acting peculiar. Is Zoro right to take everything so seriously or is it all just blind suspicion? A sweet ZoSan/SanZo fic about accepting a change of heart and a change of feelings for one another
1. Chapter 1

_Hey! Just a short disclaimer; This chapter has now been proof-read! Baha, sorry for all of the mistakes. I do write parts of this at about 3am some times...so excuse me on that one. I'll update the chapters if I find any mistakes, though! I don't own One Piece or the characters used in this fanfiction (of course), and I hope you enjoy the fic._

It had been an uneventful day. The sun was now sinking behind the buildings of the still bustling harbour town, and Zoro heaved a heavy, agitated sigh. The rest of the crew had gone speeding off in all different directions to wherever they needed to go (despite not knowing the location of what they seeked), and were bound to be returning at ungodly hours of the morning.  
"You don't want to go shopping, do you?" Nami asked hastily. Zoro's uninterested expression could have answered that without words, but nevertheless,  
"No. I want to go sleep somewhere quiet." He leaned back against a nearby post and squeezed his eyes shut, slowly unfolding his arms into a stretch. When he reopened his eyes, all of the crew had vanished into the crowd, but he heard a rapidly fading cry of 'Don't wander off! You'll get lost!".

Before docking at the port of this town, Nami had hastily walked onto the deck holding her maps and beamed an excited smile over to her lady friend. While Zoro bathed in the pleasant warmth of the afternoon sun, he listened to her chatter and Robin's calm, but sincere replies.

"So this town's stores are open all night, huh?" He thought as he lowered himself to the floor and into a cross-legged position, "They're going to be busy for a while then." He sighed again. The noise from the streets began to take the form of a dull roar as he drifted into a zen-like state, which transitioned into silence as he shut himself down.

Sanji grinned as he loomed over his sleeping nakama and dropped a heavy load of shopping bags into his lap. "Oi, Marimo!"  
Zoro grimaced. "What the hell do you want?" He separated his legs and allowed the bags to fall to the floor. He glared up at Sanji's form.  
He was wearing a white, long sleeved shirt tucked neatly into his jet black trousers, with a black tie and his usual cigarette perched in between his lips. Aside from his slightly disheveled hair (which was most likely caused by being battered by the thick crowd of people immersing the streets), he looked pretty good.  
Wait, what? This was the crew's notorious perverted-cook he was thinking about.  
He decided to erase that thought from his mind.  
"Get your stupid ass into gear! Let's go drinking!" He smiled down at him. His words seemed surprisingly malice-free...maybe he'd been insulting him for so long that it had become second-nature? "I'll pay for the first round. How does that sound?"  
Sanji's smile was making him suspicious. Usually he wasn't the victim of Sanji's pestering, so he must be after something.  
"_You're _gonna buy _me_ a drink?"  
Sanji patted down his hair and looked around the two of them. "Yep. Aren't you lucky?"  
He got to his feet and picked up the bags. As much as they loved to rile each other up, Zoro let it go for now and simply followed the chirpy blonde as he scouted for a bar. Sanji clicked his fingers and gestured to an old, but moderately large building, covered in orange-red brick with a small blue sign that read "Ye Old Tavern" above the entrance.

"I saw this place earlier. They have your favourite Sake on the menu! Although knowing you it wouldn't matter, you'd drink anything..." He trailed off and stepped in through the double-doors. Zoro grunted, not sure whether he approved or disapproved of the previous statement, but continued to walk behind him nonetheless. The noise hit him like a shockwave as he stepped inside. It was brutal against his eardrums, and he physically winced and raised a hand to his forehead in an attempt to block it out. Sanji was looking at him. The bellow of the drunkards around them made it hard to hear anything. Sanji just smiled sympathetically and gave him a light tap on the arm. Zoro would have left if it weren't for his peaking curiosity. What could he possibly want? Maybe he needed a favour, and since they were always at odds with each other he needed to sweeten him up first? That was the most likely scenario. He stared at the back of the blonde's head with increasing unease. Sanji pressed onwards towards another set of doors near the side of the bar and disappeared through them. Zoro huffed and picked up the pace, hoping to find some quiet in the next room over.

And he did. The room had about 4 booth-like tables, separated by thin wooden partitions and velvet red seats. It was obviously a private area. Looked expensive too, no doubt. Sanji was sat in the 3rd booth back, taking a deep drag of his cigarette and making himself comfortable against the deep brown partition.  
Zoro was too busy adjusting to the peace that he didn't notice his legs weren't moving any more.  
"Come on Marimo. Take a seat."

Zoro exhaled all of the tension that walking through the main room of the bar had caused. Hell, it may have been about 9 seconds, but it was more than he could handle at that point. He edged his way towards the table and took his seat across from the other man.  
The silence between them was thick...or maybe only Zoro felt that way. He was itching to know what Sanji wanted from him. It was beginning to get frustrating. He shuffled, placing his swords to one side of the bench-like seat.  
His eyes darted over to his companion. Sanji had his eyes closed now. His head was tilted back, hair slicked down over one glossy blue eye. His focus flicked up to the swirl on his forehead. Damn, that was distracting. If it wasn't for that comical swirl on his eyebrow, maybe he could take him more seriously? Well, he'd never know.  
And for now, he didn't care. There were more important matters at hand. Zoro took a breath and began to speak.  
"So, what drink do you want Zoro? Considering I'm buying an' all. And don't worry about price either, I got it covered." The blonde pulled a roll of money out of his pocket and placed it on the table. Zoro closed his mouth and swallowed his words. He sighed it out and scraped a hand through his hair, picking up a small red menu labeled "Drinks".  
"Oi, these are pricey." He grumbled. Sanji chuckled deep in his throat and sucked on the remainder of his cigarette, before crushing it against the ashtray and exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. His eye met Zoro's.  
"Just pick."  
Zoro looked over the list again. "Fine." He dropped the menu back onto the table. "A bottle of April Sake." The blonde smirked. Zoro cocked an eyebrow.  
"I'll be back in a minute." Sanji raised himself from his seat and left the room. Zoro could feel the pressure leave with him. After having to suppress the urge to ask out-right what all this was about, he was drawing close to boiling point, and if Sanji didn't get out with it soon he was going to flip some tables. He stretched his legs and rested them on Sanji's seat.

The familiar scent of Sanji's cigarette smoke had settled on him, and it wasn't so bad. Y'know, even Sanji himself wasn't so bad. They were always quarreling, but Nakama were Nakama and no matter how much they disliked each other, they also had a vast amount of respect for one another. They knew what the other was capable of. They acknowledged it; they just loved to piss each other off.  
He sat in silence for a while longer, and then Sanji returned with two bottles and two glasses in his hands. His attention was drawn when the mixture of shouting, cackling laughter and rambling briefly let itself in behind him, until the door swung shut with a soft clunk and forced it back outside.

Sanji placed Zoro's glass and bottle on the table in front of him, and did the same for himself as he shuffled to his seat. "Move your feet, shitty swordsman." He sniggered. The green haired man allowed his feet to drop back down to the floor, and Sanji smiled complacently. Sanji was acting weird. The mood wasn't right for their usual banter. The man had just bought him a drink. That, and he was being unusually...cute?  
_'Is cute the right word..?'_ He thought as he popped the cork from the bottle. '_Never really thought Sanji could be CUTE...'.__  
_  
No no no. He shook his head ever-so-slightly as if to rid himself of the thought.  
"Something wrong?" Sanji asked, opening his own bottle and pouring himself his first drink of the night. Zoro groaned. He took a swig from the bottle.  
"Nope."

Sanji reached into his pocket and fished out his lighter and another cigarette.

"So what do you want?" Zoro said bluntly.  
He held his breath in anticipation, but Sanji just looked up at him innocently with that big blue eye. Damn it all.  
A smile returned to Sanji's face.  
"You caught me!" He laughed and pressed his glass to his lips, taking a swig of his wine before connecting his and Zoro's eyes once again. Zoro looked surprised.  
"Really?"  
"Haha, yeh." Sanji snorted lightly and fished around in his pocket once again. He cleared his throat. Zoro could actually feel himself becoming more anxious, although he refused to show it. Sanji blushed, "I bought you something. It's a little crappy, but I thought you'd like it. Sorry about all of this."  
Sanji blushed. Sanji _blushed? _Zoro had to stop himself from gawking a bit. He was struggling to comprehend the situation.  
"I'm not trying to creep you out. I just saw it and thought it'd suit you." He handed over a small folded piece of fabric, then nervously lit up his cigarette. "...C'mon Marimo, say something. You're making me feel awkward."  
Zoro looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He let the material unravel itself and he examined the cloth. It was black, embellished with an ornate green and gold pattern that stretched from corner to corner, with aztec-inspired geometric shapes and a small black tag. The colours certainly suited him.  
"It's a Bandana." Zoro mused. Sanji laughed, shaking off his nerves.  
"I know that! I did buy it, after all." He scritched the small bristly hairs on his chin briefly before gulping down the rest of his glass hastily. Zoro wasn't sure what to say. Sure, he liked it. He certainly chose well and all, but...why did he buy it for him? Why not a present for the ladies that he worshipped so much? Was it possible that he was sick of them being at each other's necks all day and decided to try and make peace?  
He folded it back up and slid it into his Haramaki.  
"Thanks. How much was it?" Sanji shook his head as he poured his second glass.  
"Can't you just be happy with a gift? You don't need to know the price." He laughed and looked down into his drink, "It wasn't much anyway. I just thought you could use it." He took a long drag of his rapidly disappearing cigarette in an attempt to cool himself down. Zoro mentally noted that he was making the situation quite awkward, and decided to change the subject quickly.  
"So did you see the others while you were out?"  
"Ah..." Sanji exhaled, "Yeh. Seems that Luffy, Chopper and Usopp went together to look for medical supplies, but I doubt they got any because Luffy was messing around every time I saw them." He let out a hearty laugh. "Hard to believe he's our captain sometimes, right?"  
Zoro's lip twitched into a smirk and he took another few gulps from the bottle.  
"...Robin-chan and Nami-san were walking around with me for a while when they were looking for clothes, and then I went to stock up on some more food supplies. That's what you carried here." Zoro glanced down at the bags beside him and over to the ones that Sanji had been carrying himself. "I think Brook followed Franky to go visit some mechanics shop or something. I bet they were getting some funny glances on the way there, no doubt." He smiled contently. Zoro saw his smile and could relate. No matter what they were, or who they were, they were all Nakama. It felt good to have friends who would be there for each other without question.  
"How about after this drink we head back to the ship?" Sanji said, glancing at Zoro's already half-empty bottle. Zoro nodded and let the silence return.

They left the building once the booze was gone and walked back up the street to where Zoro was sleeping before. Assuming that the redness on Sanji's face was down to his inability to hold his alcohol, Zoro sniggered and couldn't resist a bit of light teasing while the mood was still relatively good. "So perverted-cook, what was up with that gift? You trying to better our relationship or something?" Their shopping bags pushed together and Sanji gave way to the left a little to get rid of the contact.  
"What do you mean?" The blonde man gave him a sideways glance, "...Do you really like our fights that much?" He flicked his cigarette from between his fingers. Zoro raised his shoulders then let them slump back down.  
"It's fun, isn't it? Adds a little excitement to a boring day."  
"I don't think it's fun anymore."

Zoro looked at him in surprise. He felt oddly offended by that.  
"Why?" He furrowed his brow.  
"We've been having useless arguments almost every day since we met. I think I've come to prefer seeing your cool-calm side as opposed to having your sword pointed at my face, funnily enough."  
Zoro could see where he was coming from, but really? He'd always thought that these casual fights but mutual respect was the limit of their relationship.  
Using the word relationship to describe something between the two of them was beginning to feel very creepy. They continued to walk towards the dock.  
"Oi! Sanji, Zoro! Over here!" The two men turned (or rather, Sanji did a pirouette) at the sound of Nami squawking their names.  
"Nami-swan~!" The chef sang, but was displeased when he couldn't see his orange-haired maiden anywhere. "Nami-san?" He scanned around the area.  
"Up here!" They both tilted their heads upwards to find the two girls leaning over a large wooden balcony. "We've bought rooms in a hotel! It's so nice in here!"  
"A change of scenery is therapeutic." Robin's pleasant smile graced her features, sending Sanji twirling in glee.  
"Robin-chan and Nami-swan are so beautiful from this angle!" He praised. Zoro grunted in dismay, and turned to continue his previous quest of getting back to the ship. Sanji's eyes flitted from up to the women back to Zoro. He sighed. "I'm sorry my gorgeous ladies, but I think it would be best for me to return and stock all of this back on the ship." He raised the bags, "Marimo is helping me take it back too. Have a lovely night!" He tilted his head in a half-hearted bow and jogged to catch up the the green-haired swordsman.

Zoro growled at the sound of the man approaching him.  
"Why don't you go stay with the women, curly-brow?" He hissed. Sanji kept his cool. He didn't want them to go back to arguing again.  
"You don't want me to stay on the ship with you?" He asked in his most patronising voice. He knew that Zoro would much rather be alone than spend time with him. Strangely, knowing that was quite hurtful.  
"Hell no." He said bluntly.  
Sanji sighed and cast a downward glance. Approaching the ship, they boarded single-file and walked awkwardly to the kitchen as Zoro occasionally huffed, and Sanji kept his eyes on the floor.

The chef unloaded the shopping bags onto the dinner table quietly. Zoro sat down.  
"Waiting for the booze?" Sanji laughed. Zoro looked absent-mindedly at him as he stacked the cupboards with food, turned, picked up the food, stacked it again. He didn't really respond to his question, so Sanji just carried on doing what he was doing, feeling a little dejected.  
"...Are you hungry, then? I can make you some food if you want. You can eat it up on deck." Zoro wasn't swayed. He continued to sit with his chin in his palm, not moving an inch.  
He didn't want to get angry at him. He didn't want to start a fight. But Zoro was making it so _fucking hard _to not just smack him across the head like he'd usually do. "Oi, Zoro! Are you listening to me?!" He restrained himself.  
Zoro jolted slightly. "Ah. Yeh. Booze." The blonde placed a hand to his face and closed his eyes, waiting for his frustration to pass.  
Zoro was much too busy staring him down to make any good conversation. Sanji pulled a bottle out of the fridge and held it in front of Zoro's face.  
"Here. Is something on your mind?"

What was on Zoro's mind was in fact the damn Bandana. He was stuck in deep thought, trying to piece together a good excuse as to why Sanji had really bought it for him. Although Sanji's was a believable excuse, he didn't actually believe it at all. He slid his hand under his Haramaki and gently pulled it out. Sanji saw this and turned away.  
"Are you still thinking about that or something? You've been pretty weird with me today." Zoro flinched.  
_"I'VE been weird with YOU? I think you've got your pronouns mixed up, perverted-cook."_  
Of course he wasn't going to say that. He just snorted and unraveled the cloth once again.  
"Help me put this on."

Sanji froze. He twitched, putting the last of the food into the refrigerator, closing the door.  
"...Can't you do it yourself?" Zoro ignored him and popped the booze open. Sanji approached him cautiously. He took the bandana from the swordsman's callous hands, placing it onto his head as he chugged down the bottle and began tying it.

The chef smiled. His eyes ran through Zoro's green, grass-like hair, doing what his hands wanted to do. He admired the deep tan skin that clashed so fiercely against his own. They were so different.  
The two of them were so different.  
He yanked the fabric into a knot, and carefully smoothed out the creases that had formed as he tied it. His pale fingers dragged over the creases, over the material, over an ear, and then pulled away ever-so quietly when they reached the other man's earrings.  
Zoro flinched.  
"Whoa, what was that?" He turned himself around to face the cook, latching a hand over his ear. Sanji walked over to the kitchen counter and unhooked a wok from off of the wall.  
"What was what?"  
"That. What you did just now."  
"What did I do?"  
Was Zoro over thinking things? That didn't feel like a casual touch. It somehow felt like thought had gone into it. He shivered. "Nothing."  
Sanji began prepping a meal upon the counter, oiling the wok and pre-heating it by placing it on the stove. He whisked a knife from one of the drawers and chopped some peppers that he'd left out on the cutting-board, pulled a bowl of thawed prawns over from the side of the counter and threw them in together. No doubt, this was a good distraction for him.  
Zoro had pointed out his faint caress that was supposed to go unnoticed. He had to play it cool. Keep calm. Act like Zoro really WAS over thinking, and that he had just carelessly moved his hands like that. No problem. Keep cutting. Keep stirring. That's good.

"Cook, is-"  
"I really like you, Marimo."

Sanji swallowed.

Oh fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2, now proof-read! Finally, if I may so myself. I haven't had time to really read through and search out my mistakes...Well, now I do! I hope you enjoy!_

The room felt like it had closed in on the two of them, and judging by the pounding in his chest and the sweat trickling down his forehead, Sanji was really in the metaphorical shit now.  
He stood there holding the cutting knife motionless. Inwardly screaming, he set it down in front of him and gaped wide-eyed at the wall.  
_"Oh fucking fuck, shit. Shit. __**Shit! **__Oh God! I need to dig myself out of this situation! I need to do it real fucking fast!"_

"I-I mean, we've been Nakama for a long time now. I'm good friends with everyone on this ship but you. It's tough being at each others throats all the time, you know what I mean?" He stumbled over his words. "I really like you as a person, I respect you a lot. You're uh...very strong...but you're...nice...you're...a good man when you need to be." He was just rambling bullshit now, but at least he was crawling out of the shit he'd dropped himself in at a reasonable pace. If he couldn't keep up with himself, then Zoro definitely couldn't either. Sanji exhaled his panic and began dicing the food casually once again. His tactics seemed to be working.

The look on Zoro's face conveyed a strange mixture of fleeting shock and confusion, but he was stunned into silence nonetheless. Sanji glanced back at him briefly, and if it weren't for his fear of not making it safely out of the situation, he would have probably laughed up a lung at the sight. The expression converted to something more calm, and after a few shortly passing moments, finally settled on a coy grin.  
"Nah, that's not true. You're a good guy yourself." Zoro returned to drinking from the bottle he had received not too long ago, but was startled when he heard the sudden clank of Sanji's knife of the cutting board. He pulled away from the bottle and watched Sanji shovel the sliced food into a heap and awkwardly shuffle on the spot, his tense shoulders raised high.  
"Was that the sound of the great Pirate Hunter Zoro _complimenting _me?" Sanji loosened up his shoulders and continued to cook, "I mean, you're not very good at it, but it's definitely a start."  
Zoro humphed.  
"Bastard."  
Sanji hummed a content sigh. That was all that he needed to hear. He could smile for the rest of the night now. His concern for what he'd so recently blurted out was gone, the danger had been averted, and they were now in a comfortably friendly state once more. As the food crackled and the steam curled itself up under Sanji's chin, he chuckled.  
"Do you want to eat on deck or in here?" Zoro stood up, flexing his muscular arms and yawning loud over the ambient sizzle of dinner.  
"On deck. I'm gonna go take a nap up there." He staggered towards the door, bottle in hand. "...Don't be too long with that food, curly-brow." He left with a smirk.  
Sanji gulped. That playful grin. The chef's heart sang as he stirred in the sauce and called out to the slowly closing door,  
"Aye aye, sir."

Up on deck, it was nice. The air was breezy but warm, the perfect temperature for a quiet sleep before a delicious dinner. He found himself the perfect spot and slid himself down to the floor, grinding his back against the wall and pushing the bottle to his lips with force. He was beginning to notice that his movements were getting a little sluggish, and he swallowed down the last of the liquid. He had been drinking quite a bit, so it wasn't exactly a surprise.  
His eyes roamed around the dimly lit deck, inspecting the darkness with a half-drunken interest, and with a tilt of his chin then focused to admire to the deep blue, cloudless night sky. The sky was always beautiful. No matter where the Strawhats went on their adventure so far, no matter the storms that passed, there was always one night to make up for all of the rest. The sky had some soul-cleansing properties it seemed. His mind drifted back to his conversation with the chef.  
"...Shit." He ran his fingers over the bandana. Sanji's odd shy behavior mixed with his usual kind but crude self really was a sight for the swordsman to behold. It was like he was going insane, and he half hoped that he'd awake tomorrow from a swift iron kick to the face just to get him back to the reality that he was used to.  
Sanji walked through the door next to him holding a large white plate, cutlery, a bottle of Zoro's favourite booze, and a newly lit cigarette between his fingers. Zoro took the food and drink with an appreciative grin.  
"Thanks, wife." He said sarcastically. Sanji stood tall next to him and placed a hand on his hip, taking a deep drag from his cigarette.  
"You just wish you had a wife who was as good-looking and as good at cooking as I am." He laughed and sat down. Zoro stared at the end of the cigarette, watching the orange glow flare up as Sanji sucked through the filter. He huffed two streams of smoke out through his nose.  
Zoro looked back to the food. He didn't know if it had a name or anything, but from what he could see, it looked like prawns, a yellow-brown sauce, noodles, peppers and some strange little green things that he had never eaten before. Well, he could have eaten them before. He never really paid attention to his food. He put the knife down between them and used the fork to shovel it into his mouth, leaving Sanji almost gasping in horror.  
"Don't eat like that! Savour it!" He cried in remorse as Zoro quite literally stuffed his face. He huffed.  
"-Mm hungry." He said through a mouthful of food. Sanji looked at him with a pained expression, but soon caved in.  
"...It's a shame your stupid drunk ass is admittedly kind of endearing." He jabbed a finger at Zoro's full cheek in frustration. The swordsman gulped and attempted to wipe his mouth with his sleeve, grunting at Sanji's comment. He returned to clearing his plate and hummed happily.  
"...'s it good?" The chef said quietly.  
Zoro nodded and continued to eat, "S'really good." He took a swig from the bottle. Sanji felt the joy bubbling in his stomach and he clenched his fist to hold it back.  
"How sweet of you." He said in a mocking tone. He definitely meant it, though. He never thought that seeing this side of Zoro would genuinely make him so happy. The green-haired man put the plate down and shuffled uncomfortably as he glared at his full stomach. Sanji resisted the urge to laugh at him. He just watched him for a little while, and when Zoro finished glugging down the bottle, he lay down and fell to sleep exactly where he was sat.

"Wow. You drank that much?" He said, prodding Zoro's side.  
"...Oi." He nudged him gently.  
"Oi Zoro. Don't fall asleep out here. I don't want to carry you inside."  
He got no response.  
He swallowed anxiously. All that he could hear was the soft sound of lapping waves, the far-off chatter of villagers by the bay, and Zoro's quiet but steady breaths as he lay sprawled out next to him. He knew he should go take the plate back to the Galley where he could wash it before the food sticks, and he knew that he should just let Zoro sleep like he usually does. That's what he knew that he should do. But it wasn't what he wanted at all.  
_"I could touch him right now and he wouldn't even know."  
_His hands began to shake at the thought.  
He moved the plate and cutlery from in between the two of them, and looked down at him.

It had never occurred to him, before now, that Zoro could ever be as sweet as he had been to him today. The stern, stoic and seemingly unmovable Pirate Hunter Zoro seemed to finally be himself with Sanji. Of course, they had no doubt gotten to that point thanks to the alcohol, but Sanji didn't care.

For the last passing weeks, Sanji had been wondering. He'd been stuck in a seemingly endless reel of thought after realising just how vastly his relationship with Zoro differed in comparison to the rest of the crew. Zoro put up a pissy or serious front with a couple of them, but Sanji was the only one that he ever went as far as to really fight with. They'd been doing that for a while of course, but that didn't matter. In spite of their great amount of respect for each other, Sanji had become jealous.  
_"Why can't I be smiled at like that?"_ He had thought to himself. _"Why can't he laugh with me like that?" _He cursed himself for being such an idiot, because it was no doubt partially his own fault for letting Zoro get the best of his hot temper. He had troubled himself for a while about how to go about mending their bitter-sweet relationship, and then out of the blue, that was when he saw it.  
He saw the bandana tied firmly on the mannequins head, and he knew just how perfect it was. He knew just how perfect it would have suited sitting on Zoro's head, how it matched the mans hair, and his jewellery, and his clothes. It was the perfect present, he felt. Maybe it was just the adrenaline making him think that he'd finally found his salvation, but to him it seemed utterly and unmistakably Zoro's gift in every way, shape and form. He rushed over to it in a state of pure school-boyish glee, turning the tag around to find himself gaping in horror at the price.  
He stopped, thought it over once more. Then he thought "Fuck it", pulled out the money and paid the story owner. He didn't want to keep thinking about it, because the more he thought about the fact that he was buying Zoro a gift, the more it made him feel confused in himself and made him feel a little sick to his stomach.

Then it came to actually giving him the gift. He seriously didn't know how to go about it. The possibilities were endless, but at the same time he felt so limited. That was the problem that he faced. Zoro's potential reactions limited the ways that he felt he could give him the gift without making him think that there was some kind of ulterior motive to it. Turns out it didn't work after all, but even so, this had panned out pretty well. Although he was unsure about what he wanted in the beginning, he was sure now. This was what he wanted.

He smiled as he looked down at him. His cigarette had long since burnt out and he was now sat with it perched idly between his middle and fore-finger.  
It was an odd feeling that Zoro gave him. He made him feel a mixture of emotions, and it made him feel sick...But it made him happy to see him lay there, and what he really loved was finally being able to be by his side for a just little while (what was it, ten minutes now?) without conflict. He felt like he'd finally achieved the goal he'd been pining for all of this time. He rested a hand on the mans clothed stomach, gently, as not to wake him, and exhaled the deep breath that he'd been holding in since he'd looked at his face. His heart urged him to move his hand higher, but he pulled away. He looked apprehensively down to his palm and sat in complete silence for a few minutes more. He sighed, for he'd made his decision.  
Holding his breath, the blonde softly lay his head down on Zoro's outstretched arm, and curled himself up next to him. His eyes glanced nervously up to Zoro's face, just in case he'd woken the man up, but he hadn't even flinched. He lay utterly still for a few more moments as he savored the feeling of laying down next to Zoro, and then found himself drifting off into the same state. _"I'll get up in a minute...I just want to stay here for a little longer..."_ He told himself. He repeated the same phrase several times in his head over the course of around 5 or so minutes, and then closed his eyes for the final time, and joined Zoro in his state of tranquil dormancy.

Zoro twitched. He cracked one eye open and stared up into the sky from where he rested on the floor. It had gotten quite cold, and considering how warm it was when he fell to sleep, a few hours or so must have passed between then and now. He grunted at the subtle ache at the front of his head, and attempted to sit himself up. But he couldn't.  
Sanji lay wrapped around his arm like a sleeping child, his breath tickling Zoro's side which had gradually come uncovered as the clothing was pulled over his shoulder, likely due to the movement in his sleep. The blonde mop of hair that covered his right eye was now hanging delicately across his face, his reddened cheek was squished against Zoro's arm and his lips were slightly parted against his tanned skin. Zoro's heart thumped. What could he do? He could shove the other man off him and yell obscenities at him, yes. Or he could go back to sleep. He contemplated it for a while, then pressed his lips together in a thin line.  
Carefully...carefully, he slid his arm smoothly against the cooks cheek, gently freeing himself and doing his best to get up without causing a disturbance. Sanji's facial hair prickled his skin, and he mentally noted to never let him get his face anywhere near him again because it felt like he was scraping himself against a cactus. He snorted. Zoro was almost there, gingerly pulling his forearm free, followed by his wrist, but the cook's head rested on his hand. He couldn't just drop him. That'd wake him up. Softly holding a handful of tousled hair, he maneuvered himself onto his knees, glancing over to the door next to them that creaked quietly under the motion of the waves. His eyes came back down to Sanji's, and they stared at each other in unbelievably awkward eye-contact.

"...Uh."  
Zoro paused, still cupping the other mans head with both of his hands, "Hey."  
Sanji just gaped up at him. His confused curly eyebrows were raised (from what Zoro could see at least) high upon his forehead and he began to burn up. His ears and neck were hot in Zoro's hands and he frantically shoved himself out of his grip.  
"-The fuck are you doing?" He panted, shocked at the sudden and bizarre wake-up he'd just gotten. His ragged breaths forced his chest up and down and he struggled to grasp the situation in his head. "What the hell were you going to do?" He covered his face with his hands defensively.  
"Now- Now I know that looked really weird, but just listen for-"  
"I'm listening! But really, Zoro, what the fuck was that? Did you not think I'd w-"  
"Let me finish!" Zoro shouted, losing the last of his patience. Sanji opened his mouth but faltered.  
"...I'm sorry." He said. His chest was heaving and he still had the same bewildered expression on his face. He was recoiled against the wall, staring intensely at him with those bright, blue, deer-in-the-headlights-looking eyes. Zoro let out an aggravated sigh.  
"Jesus, I just didn't want to wake you up!" Looking at Sanji's face right now was like divine punishment for everything bad that he'd ever done in his life. If this wasn't a guilt-trip, then Zoro really didn't know what one was. "You were hooked around my arm, and I just saw you sleeping there, so I tried to move away without waking you up, but I thought your head was going to hit the floor so I tried to lay you down gently-" Zoro realised that he was rambling and stopped. He inhaled momentarily, glancing back to Sanji and then raising a hand to his own face. "...Screw it. I don't need to explain myself." He got up and threw the door open wide. The door bounced against the wall, and slammed itself shut with a loud crack. Sanji looked seriously confounded. He didn't fully understand the situation, but it was sinking in pretty quickly as he sat there in silence, hearing Zoro's heavy footsteps fade off into the ship. Sanji was so confused. He replayed the scene in his head one more time before getting shakily to his feet and tailing after him.

"Marimo! Oi! I don't get it!" He was starting to panic even more than he had before now. Everything had been going so well. "Fuck!"  
He sprinted down the corridor, calling for the 'Green-haired bastard' to 'get his ass back to explain himself' and that he had probably gotten the completely wrong idea of the situation, and he needed to clear it up. "I know it's a misunderstanding! I know you were just being nice!"

Sanji's sprint turned into a jog, which steadily became a walk. He stood still outside of the cabin were the crew usually slept.

_"He was...being nice. Maybe I was to shocked at the situation because it was...so out of character for him?" _He thought. He could feel himself becoming more upset, tears beginning to prick his eyes. _"After forcing us into that situation, I only served to scare myself. It was my fault. Not Zoro's. It's not his fault."_ Sanji inwardly whined as his throat began to close up.

He choked it all back. "Zoro!" His voice cracked slightly, and he coughed to clear it, "Zoro, it's nothing to get worked up about! I didn't mean to make you angry!" Sanji tried to listen for any sound of movement or a reply, but he was deafened by the emphatic thumping in his chest. He whimpered, launching the door open, and finding Zoro directly behind it. Oops.  
He violently rubbed the tears from his eyes, hoping that he'd not noticed them. Well shit, he didn't actually expect to find him behind the door. He laughed off the shock and sadness and smiled through reddened eyes.  
"Haha, shit Zoro, why did you run off like that?" Sanji's voice was nasally and embarrassing. He cringed at the tone of it, but continued to smile. "Sorry if I made you mad."  
Zoro grabbed Sanji's shoulder tightly. His eyes glinted with unsurity for a second, and then Sanji found himself being pulled into the mans chest with great force. _"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON."_

"Don't get upset." Zoro hushed him, awkwardly patting Sanji's back as if he was comforting some kind of injured child. Sanji felt like it was impossible to move from his iron-maiden-eque hug (not that he would have wanted to, even if he could).  
Zoro was _so _sweet. So damn sweet. He smelled great, too. If it weren't for Sanji's hands being crushed between their chests then he probably would have stayed there for longer.  
"I'm not mad. Don't cry. You're a man." He rested an apologetic hand on Sanji's shoulder as they separated; He could see the guilt on Zoro's face. It was so obvious.  
But he didn't want him to feel guilty.

"Who's crying?" Sanji jeered, giving him a friendly slap on the back. "Stupid Marimo. It's about 3am. I'm going to sleep." He exhaled all of the worry and panic, and forced himself to think of other things. Stay calm, move on quickly.

Sanji walked by him, removing his tie and jacket and untucking his shirt. He kicked off his shoes, and obviously thought _'fuck it' _to the rest, considering that he jumped straight into the hammock without making an effort to take them off. Zoro knew that he had been upset. It was obvious. Even so, he let it slide.

Zoro hummed.  
"Alright. I guess I'll do the same."

He turned out the light in the room, and listening to the rustle of clothing and the padding of bare feet along the floor, Sanji heard Zoro get into his own bed with a lethargic (and slightly erotic) sigh.  
Hey, he was a pervert. His mind just worked that way.

Sanji's eyes gently adjusted to the darkness as he lay on his side. The room was deathly quiet apart from the subtle creaking of the ship, he could smell the muskiness of his shampoo from his pillow and he nestled his head further into it.  
He was unable to get comfortable; He felt restless now. Maybe he'd slept enough for one night? But even so, what the hell was there to do on the ship at 3am? He sat up and swished his legs over the side of the hammock, rubbed his eyes and quietly placed his head in his hands. Sanji groaned.

"What's up, curly-brow?"  
Sanji jerked upright. Zoro's low voice was startling when he couldn't see the man himself.  
"Nah, it's nothing." He endeavored to find the source of the voice in the darkness, but to no avail. "...Just...can't sleep." Sanji scraped his fringe back with his fingers in an attempt to improve his vision. His eyes were wide, and regardless of how hard he stared, he couldn't seem to form anything.  
Well, until he found himself eye-to-eye with Zoro crouched in front of him.

"HOLY FUCK!" Sanji tripped over himself, flipping backwards over the hammock and landing with a painful crack on his back. His legs hung ungracefully in the air.  
"You stupid bastard!" His heart pounded a mile a minute and his back and head throbbed. "What were you thinking? Shitty idiot!" He struggled to recover from his inelegant position, rolling over and clutching the back of his neck. He pressed his forehead to the floor. "Ouch...What if I'd broke my neck?"

Sanji felt a hand replace his and stroke the crook of his neck.  
"Ahaha, I didn't mean to surprise you! Stupid chef..." Zoro continued to soothe the aching area, carelessly running his fingers back and forth from his hair-line down passed his shoulder blades. Sanji found himself melting into the relief, closing his eyes and loosening his tense muscles, exhaling a delicate breath and letting his hand fall to the floor with a slight tap.  
"...You not gonna shout at me?" The swordsman asked with genuine worry in his voice. Sanji pounced up from his relaxed position only to stagger at the sharp pain in his neck.  
"Ah- Shit!" He hunched back over. "D-don't...touch me..." He hissed.

Zoro smiled cynically and pulled Sanji up into his arms. Sanji glared at him.  
"That was my fault. I'll take you to the bed in the Infirmary." Zoro said, looping an arm under Sanji's legs, and another behind his head. Sanji yelped.  
"Get off of me! It hurts, you dumbass!" Zoro ignored him, clutching his neck a little tighter and earning a whimper from him.  
"Shut up. I keep hurting you tonight. Give me a chance to atone." Sanji was stunned into a begrudgingly painful silence, glancing up to Zoro's face. It was still dark as fuck though, so he couldn't actually see anything.  
Sanji hummed his distress into the hand that he clamped firmly around his jaw. He could see Zoro's intentions we good, but he had some serious issues with expressing himself; His help was something akin to torture.  
Zoro maneuvered the door open with his foot and carefully shuffled through the darkness towards the medical room.  
"...Does it really hurt?" Zoro asked. Sanji's legs clunked into the wall.  
"Nnf-...Yes." Sanji stifled anything more by gnawing at his hand.

It was odd. Looking through his half-lidded eyes at Zoro right now, Sanji really had a strange feeling when examining his face. He looked like a sulky kid, but...slightly more proud, and a little bit more, well, sulky. A little upset, too. The blonde haired man had some pride left of his own, and being stuck in this position was quite degrading.  
"I've had way worse injuries before, Christ, just put me down, I'll be fine." He growled, feeling a little exasperated from the short bursts of pain that coursed through his neck and shoulders. That's what he said, but he didn't really feel like walking. He wouldn't have minded the help, but it was Zoro helping him, and Zoro helping him was like tossing his dignity over-board and he didn't enjoy the sensation that that brought to him.  
"...Let me..." Zoro opened the door to the infirmary, "...Let me help you, just this once."

They were suddenly enveloped in that god-awful silence again. Sanji struggled to leave him without retort, but he felt like it was the best thing to do.

Zoro walked him to the single bed in the far left of the room. "I'm gonna lay you down on your front, is that okay?"  
Sanji nodded. Zoro did as he had said, setting the man down on top of the white bed sheets. Sanji grimaced, feeling the pain return from the numbness as he changed position, but merely huffed into the pillow. _"Fucking brilliant" _were the only words that his mind could seem to conjure. He turned his head to the side. Zoro was running the cold water onto a small white cloth, dabbling his hands in the sink and swishing the soft material around. He paused as if in thought, but quickly turned off the faucet and walked back over to him.  
He hooked a finger over the back of Sanji's collar and slid it down gently, passed his shoulders, elbows, then down to his waist. The blonde felt his back seize up as Zoro grazed his finger tenderly over the reddened skin, wincing and contracting his muscles somewhat. He continued to bite his lip. _"Fuuuuuuck."_

"Still hurt?"  
"Nah." Sanji frowned. It was one thing to cause an accident in the first place, but constantly pestering him about whether he was in obvious pain or not was starting to grind Sanji's gears.  
It had only just occurred to him that Zoro was sat next to him shirtless, handsome, and by the look on his face, feeling utterly terrible for what he'd done. Sanji momentarily took pride in that.

"So are you going to make me feel better or what?"  
"Ah...Yeh."  
Zoro lifted the cloth above Sanji's sore back and gently began squeezing the water out. It was a very strange sensation. He writhed and gasped, earning an eyebrow-quirk from Zoro.  
"Argh, it's okay." Sanji adjusted his arms slightly, gruelingly pulling them up under the pillow beneath his head, "Carry on."

Zoro's face was deadpan as he smoothed the cloth out across Sanji's shoulders, gingerly pressing down and stroking it across his skin. Sanji tried his best to keep a straight face, but not only did it feel like whole new territory was opening up for the two of them, it was beginning to feel strangely...good. Oh God.  
"Okay Zoro, that's enough." He said with great effort. Zoro continued to smooth the cloth further down his back. "Enough already!" Sanji yelped. _"For God's sake, get your hands off of me before it starts to feel any weirder than it already does!"_

Sanji glared at him. He was smirking. Sanji felt his face blaze with anger. _"The bastard's fucking smirking!" _He attempted to push himself up off of the bed, only to be pressed back down by the weight of Zoro's hand holding the cloth.  
"What are you playing at?" Sanji yelled. He didn't feel up to raising his voice, but he did it regardless. It didn't seem to be having any effect.

"Oi!"

Sanji felt Zoro's soft lips press against the nape of his neck.  
It was a tender, gentle kiss, without too much pressure or force as to avoid earning a pained reaction from him. It felt like his heart was going to burst.

Zoro continued to soundlessly kiss the same area, over and over. He tilted his head up, nuzzling his nose into Sanji's hair and shakily exhaled his bated breath. He inhaled slowly through his nose, and out through his mouth once again. Sanji felt him climb onto the bed beside him.  
He could sense himself starting to become frantic and wanted to leap out of bed and run away. Fuck, if he felt that he was able to out-run Zoro then he would have been gone with the wind by now, but he couldn't because of his stupid back. Sanji kept his face directed away from Zoro's, biting his tongue.  
_"Oh shit." _

He was literally gob-smacked. He didn't know what to do. Did he turn to face him? That was risky. He didn't want to do it. His cheeks were beet red and he was trembling quite a bit.

"Oi, shit-cook..." Zoro said in a hushed tone. "Look at me."

_"NO! FUCK NO!" _Sanji cursed in his head. He lay there motionless.  
"Hey." Zoro whispered, leaning into Sanji's ear, "I'm gonna go to sleep now, then. Good night." He pecked a kiss onto his left lobe and dropped back down onto the pillow next to Sanji's head.

Sanji didn't reply. He didn't move. He didn't even _breathe _because he felt that whatever he did, it would be the wrong decision.

He closed his eyes, begging for his heart to stop pounding so vigorously and hoping that Zoro would fall to sleep soon.

He was doubting if this was reality.

It couldn't be real.

**No way** was this real.

...But in any case, he really hoped that it was.


	3. Chapter 3

Sanji hadn't moved all night.  
He had slept, though. He must have fallen to sleep at some point when he closed his eyes for a second. Even so, when he had opened his eyes briefly and found himself lying in the same position with Zoro's arm resting on his lower back, he couldn't sleep, he _refused _to sleep until he was away from Zoro in a place where he could think.  
Sanji closed his eyes once more.

_"So...Marimo is lay sleeping next to me." _His reflected on the course of last night, cringing and blushing all over, _"He...He kissed me. __**Zoro **__has kissed me. Zoro, my nakama and rival, has..."_ Sanji wanted to shake his head, but he didn't want to wake the other man up.  
_"Does this mean he __**loves**__ me?"_

Without warning, Chopper burst in through the door to the infirmary and Sanji bolted up-right, almost sliding off of the bed. Zoro's hand hit the bed with a thump.  
"There you two are!" Chopper said in a relieved, and as always, pleasantly babyish voice. "You guys had us all worried! You weren't in your beds, or in the galley, or anywhere on deck." The doctor looked at Sanji in confusion.

"Why are you two in here?"  
"Ah...I got hurt." Sanji kept his glance straight and didn't turn to see if Zoro had woken up, although it was more than likely that he had. "I'm fine now, though."  
"Oh, alright then! Luffy and the others want you to make them breakfast because they don't like the hotel food, is that okay?" Chopper enquired. Sanji nodded and set his hands down in his lap. "Okay! I'll let them know you're awake." Chopper left the room, closing the door on his way out.  
The room returned to its former state and he breathed a sigh.

"Morning."

Sanji felt a shiver of apprehension direct itself up his spine. He swallowed.  
"Good...morning."  
Zoro stay lay on his side, and Sanji still refused to look at him.  
"How's your back?" Zoro asked in his sexy, gravelly morning voice. Sanji felt completely exposed to him without his shirt on. It was making him feel nervous.  
"It's fine."  
"Hm." Zoro said, sitting up. "You're still looking a bit bruised though."

Sanji didn't know what to say. He was so very tempted to ask about last night.  
It wasn't really that much of a big deal. The main reason why he was so shocked at that type of behaviour was because it was _Zoro _and _Zoro_ wasn't supposed to act that way. Well, at least not in Sanji's mind. He would never even have dreamt that Zoro could act like that, especially not to him. Christ.

"What happened last night..." Zoro started. Sanji perked up slightly. Zoro scratched the back of his head. "...It's never going to happen again."

_Wait. What?_

Zoro got out from under the covers and without giving Sanji more than a moment to process what he'd said, he was gone. The blonde sat there motionless. His lips remained slightly parted, and his eyes stared unclearly at the ground.  
"What...do you mean by that?" He felt himself say. He wasn't sure why, but he felt an overwhelming sadness bubble up in his chest.

Just like yesterday, when he was in the room with Zoro, he placed his head in his hands in despair.  
Damn, he suddenly felt like shit. Almost like he was going to start bawling, and he didn't know why.  
He was completely messed up.

Did he want Zoro to like him?

Is this what this was all about?

Sanji lifted his head. Swallowing his sadness, he got to his feet. All of this felt like too much, and he just needed to work it out. What he needed to consider right now was that either a) Zoro liked him, or b) Zoro was just being...abnormally intimate. Zoro could be unpredictable on the odd occasion, so the second option needed a lot of consideration.

But the first option...Sanji shivered with a surge of excitement. _"If...Zoro likes me..." _He ran his fingers through his hair, _"...How would I feel about that?"_

He paused. He felt his stomach churn and heat dust itself across his pale cheeks. _"Well I know one thing for certain. I'm attracted to him." _  
He didn't like the way that sounded in his head, but there really was no dancing around it. It felt like some kind of weight had been lifted off of his shoulders now that he'd come to admit it. He grinned. _"Okay. I'm attracted to him. I __**like **__him."_ His smile spread wider.  
He looked over to the door, expelling his excitement for now, replacing his idiotic grin with a very stern expression.  
What did Zoro mean by 'It's never going to happen again'? Maybe he was just...teasing him or something? Well, whatever he was doing, he was toying with Sanji's emotions now, and the chef was suddenly very determined to find the answer to his questions.

He advanced out of the room, walking with new-found conviction in his step and returned to his room. He couldn't very well walk around without a shirt on all day, could he? Everyone was waiting for breakfast, so he decided that after serving it he'd pull Zoro outside with him and ask him straight out. Sanji wasn't one to mess around when it came to this sort of thing.

After shrugging on a fresh shirt, he sprinted to the kitchen and began working on breakfast.

Luffy was the first to walk in, of course.  
"Sanji!" Luffy rushed over to him. "I'm soooo hungry! What are you making? Is it gonna be good? Will it have meat in it?" Sanji chuckled.  
"I'm making scones, pancakes, and bacon, eggs, and toast." He flipped the pancake with ease, "And of course it's going to be good, _I'm _making it, after all."  
Luffy beamed at him, laughing like a madman whilst doing so. "I can't wait! I'm starving!" His stomach growled as if on cue. Sanji smirked.  
"Sit down. It'll be done soon."  
"I don't wanna! Cook faster!" Luffy insisted.  
"Telling me to cook faster doesn't mean I CAN cook faster. These things just take time!"

Luffy whined, latching himself onto the other man. "Come on food, cook faster!" The chef jerked as Luffy applied pressure to the bruise on his upper back, hissing through gritted teeth and trying to shrug him off.  
"Hey, Luffy, get off. That hurts." The Captain ogled him in confusion.  
"Eh? What hurts?" Luffy continued to press against the area.

"He hurt his back." Zoro said lethargically.  
Sanji felt his heart beat out of time.

"Zoro!" Luffy leapt away from the blonde and bounded over to the swordsman, newly seated at the galley table. "I didn't even hear you come in, could you smell the food too?"  
Zoro looked at the Captain complacently and nodded his head. Sanji continued to cook, speeding up the pace a little now that he knew Zoro was hanging around.  
"Oi, shit-cook, when's the food gonna be done?" The green haired man said composedly. Sanji chose to ignore the whole 'Shit-cook' thing, because he knew that he was being baited into a fight by that, and he was on the verge of saying 'Is that any way to talk to me after what you were like last night?'. But he stopped. He had the feeling that he was making too much of a big deal out of those nonchalant little kisses, and he needed to just allow it to leave his mind for now. There was time for that later.  
"Food will be ready in a couple of minutes, you two just sit there and **wait**. I can't cook if you guys keep nagging me." Sanji said, fervently stacking the pancakes higher onto the plate and slapping some more bacon down into the other pan.

"Ooh, Sanji's all worked up this morning!" Luffy laughed, followed by Zoro's all-knowing smirk pointed in the chefs general direction. Sanji just huffed.

The rest of the crew began filing in one after another, taking their seat at the table and reanimating the galley to its usual busy self. Sanji set the table and piled the food up in front of them. As per usual, the more boisterous of the crew dived ravenously into their breakfast, whilst the more reserved of them waited their turn as to avoid any conflict. Sanji just stayed leaning against the counter, fidgeting as he lit a cigarette...his gaze stuck on Zoro like glue.

But it was frustrating. Do you know why? Because the bastard had been looking at him the whole time until Sanji looked back, then he decided to play it smooth and ignore him. **And now Sanji just could **_**not**_** stop looking at him. **Yeh, he was fucking pissed.

But Zoro looked _so _damn alluring. More so than usual. It was the way he casually joked along with the rest of the crew, the way he chugged down his drink, the way he wiped his mouth across his arm...

Okay, well it wasn't like he was actually trying to be alluring, Sanji just couldn't take his eyes off of him. He felt his chest grow tight.  
...Why was watching Zoro eat beginning to turn him on?

Sanji cleared his throat.  
"Marimo."  
Zoro looked over to him, as did some of the other members of the crew. Sanji felt all eyes on him and he grew flustered.  
"What?" Zoro said.  
_"Don't feign innocence with me you bastard!" _The blonde took a drag on his cigarette.  
"I'm going up to the crows nest. I need to talk to you about something." He crushed out the cig and took a step forward. "Meet me up there when you're done." He walked towards the door.  
"Hahaha! Sanji's pissed!" Luffy said through a mouthful of food, accidentally spitting it on Usopp.  
"Ew, Luffy that's disgusting!" Usopp wiped his face and glanced over to the swordsman. "What did you do to annoy him now?" Zoro continued to eat his breakfast.  
"Nothing. What makes you think _I _did something?"  
"Well, you two are always fighting! If Sanji's going to call you out then you've no doubt done something to piss him off."  
"Maybe he's not angry?" Robin chimed in. Sanji hesitated, then carried on out of the door.  
"Is it to do with how Sanji hurt his back?" Chopper asked. Sanji paused with his hand on the door handle. Zoro also flinched at the comment.  
"Eh? Sanji-san hurt his back?" Brook said, sipping his tea.  
"Mhm. I found the two of them sleeping together in my medical room this morning." Chopper chirped.

Sanji fell into a cold sweat.

_"__**SHIT**__."_

Everyone's eyes flitted from Sanji to Zoro.  
If Sanji could summon black holes at will, he would have done so just to engulf himself and remove him from this agonisingly awkward situation. Sanji turned to face them all, ready to speak his defense.

"What? Sanjiand Zoro_,_ _sleeping_ together? You're talking about those two...in the same bed?" The look on Nami's face implied that the mere suggestion was completely crazy and was the most insane thing she'd ever heard. To be fair, it was. Sanji looked at Zoro in a way that practically screamed _"SAY SOMETHING"_.

"Whoa, Curly-bro! Since when were you two so close?" Franky laughed and Zoro returned to eating his breakfast.

Sanji gaped at him. _"YOU'RE LEAVING __**ME **__TO DEAL WITH THIS?"_

"N-no, it's not how it sounds. He just fell asleep next to me. Right, Marimo?"  
He got no response. The crew looked at the man in question.  
"**Right**, Marimo?"

Zoro shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know."

_SERIOUSLY?_

Sanji glared at him. What was that supposed to mean?  
Robin giggled. "Maybe you should go to the crows nest, Mr Swordsman?"

Zoro put his fork down and gave her a displeased look. Sanji felt a little awkward just standing there.  
"Ahaha, Robin-chan, don't worry! Marimo will come. Won't you?" Sanji pressed further.  
Zoro pushed his plate away from him and lifted himself off of the bench, walking towards the chef.

Sanji was surprised, but gave Robin a thankful smile and walked out of the room, Zoro trailing behind him.

As soon as the door had closed, Sanji snapped.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Sanji was done with quietly seething. "What the hell was that? What are you trying to pull?"

"We can still hear you." Nami called through the door. Sanji paused.  
"Sorry, Nami-san! Robin-chan!"

He slapped Zoro on the arm, indicating for him to follow him up to the crows nest. Zoro pushed his hand away, but followed him regardless.

Sanji was about ready to rip Zoro's head off, and if it hadn't have been for the earlier interruption, that's exactly what he would have done.

When they were finally in the crows nest, the aura that Sanji was emitting was blood-thirsty.  
Sanji turned one-eighty, shoving Zoro's shoulder hard.

"What the fuck, Zoro?"  
Zoro didn't look very moved at all. He just looked slightly agitated.  
"Why are you acting like last night didn't happen?" It was frustrating to sound angry when you honestly just felt upset. Did this mean that Zoro didn't like him? Maybe he was feeling just as confused as Sanji was, and now he'd made his decision. Sanji froze as he came to a sudden realisation.  
Zoro didn't like him. He was trying to make everything to go back to how it was.

"I'm not acting like it didn't happen. I told you, it's not going to happen again."

Sanji just looked at him. He felt the familiar sting of tears in his eyes and he blinked them away, swallowing the lump in his throat. He raised a hand to his face, pushing his fingers into his hair and pulling on it harshly, trying to block his emotions with the numbness of pain, but it wouldn't work. His eyes met Zoro's.

"...But...why?" Sanji gnawed on his lip.

The atmosphere, the emotion, the confusion, the room, the stern look on Zoro's face. It was all weighing down on him and he was ready to cave in.  
His voice shook. "Why does it have to be like that?"

He tried to look angry. He tried to sound it, too.

But he couldn't do it. Sanji could no longer put up that front when all he wanted to do was see Zoro acting the same way that he did last night.  
He was now pretty damn sure that all he wanted was for Zoro to like him.

Zoro's face contorted from his stone-like expression. Finally, as his composure crumbled, he reached up to hold Sanji's cheeks in the palms of his hands. By the look on the chefs face, he was unable to comprehend the sudden development; his lips were shaking and his eyes were wide in shock, unable to break away from Zoro's.

_"Hm? Does he want a kiss?" _Zoro thought, focus flickering from Sanji's blue orbs down to his adorable lips.  
He pulled the trembling blonde towards him.  
Stroking a finger across his rapidly blushing ear, Zoro smiled.

That was the softest smile that Sanji had ever seen.

Unbelievable. It was unlike anything Sanji had ever hoped to see. The blush spread across his cheeks and was making his vision hazey.

Zoro scraped away the curtain of glossy blonde hair that obstructed his path, and grazed his lips against Sanji's forehead. He felt Sanji jolt, but he didn't move away. He grinned against his pale skin, but continued to trail a line of affectionate kisses down his nose, avoiding contact with his trembling lips. He placed a kiss onto his chin, then pulled away.

Well, it was safe to say that Sanji had just become a lump of jelly in Zoro's hands.  
His face was completely red. There was no avoiding looking at it. It's a good thing Zoro felt like he could stare at it all day.  
He traced that adorable eyebrow with his thumb and felt his heart skip a beat as their eyes connected.

"Does this..." Sanji said, mind still clouded with the overwhelming sense of joy that had rushed to his head. He attempted to hide his face against Zoro's shoulder, feeling self-conscious about how utterly red his cheeks must have been radiating at that moment.  
"Does this mean that you like me, Zoro?"

Zoro laughed, causing Sanji to panic and try to pull away from him.  
"Stupid perverted-cook."  
The swordsman closed the gap between their mouths, sliding his tongue gently across Sanji's lower lip and moving them softly against each other. Sanji shivered and panted quietly against Zoro's mouth, taking initiative and lapping at Zoro's tongue with his own, shifting his hand against Zoro's chest. Pushing their mouths together for one final, sweet kiss, Zoro pulled back.  
He smiled at him, wrapping his arms around him carefully and standing in blissful silence for a few fleeting moments.

"You're embarrassing me." Sanji said, his voice muffled by Zoro's shoulder.  
Zoro sniggered, stroking the back of the other mans head. "You were really cute, though. I can't help it."  
Sanji jabbed him in the ribs. "I'm not 'cute'! I'm 'handsome'." He laughed, removing Zoro's arms from around him. Zoro kissed his forehead quickly before tucking a hand into the red sash around his waist, turning to the ladder and hurriedly stepping down.

"I hope that cleared things up for you." Zoro said.  
Sanji stayed where he was and watched as Zoro left, lighting a cigarette and placing it between his ever-so-slightly swollen lips.  
"I'll see you later tonight. I'm on watch, so come up on deck when everyone's gone to bed." Zoro dropped down onto the deck with a slight thud as he walked back towards the galley.

Sanji felt his legs lose their stability. He dropped down to the floor and lay on his back, crossing one leg over the other and taking a long, soothing drag from his cigarette.  
He felt a strange warmth in his stomach and he rolled over onto his side.

He shut his eyes tightly and buried his face in his hands.

_...Is this how it feels to be in love?_

Well, whatever it was, it didn't involve cleaning up the mess that was bound to be left now that breakfast was over. He supposed he'd better be on his way back to the galley.

He grinned in anticipation. _Tonight was going to be fun._

_Hey guys! I hope you enjoy chapter 3! Before anyone asks, yes, it's still ongoing. Please leave a review, even if it's just short, to tell me whether you enjoy this or not! It helps to keep me motivated since I don't have much spare time...Thank you for reading this far! I'll see you next time for chapter 4!_


	4. Chapter 4

Zoro approached the cabin room, walking proud and sporting a very satisfied grin on his face.  
Behind his cool, calm exterior, he was completely and immovably _overjoyed_ by the current situation and he wanted to shout about it.  
As much as he had the desire to shout, he decided that keeping quiet about this little development for a while may be for the best. In fact he had no real intention of telling anyone about it. If they found out, then they found out. No big deal.

He walked into the room. The radiance of the mid-morning sun created a beautiful resplendent yellow-gold glow across the furniture, and Zoro lay himself down in his pre-warmed hammock.  
He closed his eye. He had resigned himself to sleeping all day (just like he usually did, but now he had a good excuse to do so) until he had watch so that he could stay up all night. He snickered to himself. _Poor curly-brow. He's got shit to do today __**and **__he's gonna sit with me on watch. The poor bastard._

His mind wandered back to cute little exasperated Sanji, panting into their innocent kisses, tensing wherever Zoro's hands touched, looking so damn upset and completely _delicious _when Zoro had said that he'd never kiss him again. Oh man, did that get to him. Zoro subdued any urges that those thoughts had provoked and folded his arms behind his head.  
It's not like he'd never seen Sanji as attractive before now. There had been a few times that he'd just wanted to throw the man down during a fight and stuff his tongue into his mouth...it'd definitely shut him up. For a few moments at least, then he'd have a considerably painful kick to the face.

...Alright, so maybe not kiss him in a way that could be described so vulgarly, but somewhere within that region. Of course, he'd dismissed those thoughts as him just being either sexually frustrated or just genuinely so riled-up by the other man that he couldn't help himself, but as time went on, he just decided that he really wanted something more.  
What was even more unpleasant about their past situation was that they despised each other. That was never a good thing. More often than not, it would happen like this; Sanji would obsess over the women, Zoro would insult him, Sanji would insult Zoro, and then a fight would occur (Or Zoro would initiate, Sanji would respond, and they'd kick each other's ass). If it wasn't like that, then they probably wouldn't interact except for giving and receiving food, or working together on a very, _very _rare occasion. Every time Zoro had wanted to have his way with the man, there was nothing he could do about it.

The thing that had dramatically changed the course of their relationship was that Bandana. The present with 'no meaning' that Sanji was so flustered about. Zoro was genuinely so confused by that.  
It's not like he'd ever thought about getting Sanji a gift, so why would Sanji have thought to get him one? He had to investigate further, and thanks to that ounce of curiosity he'd gotten to where they were now. When he was sat in the galley as Sanji stocked the cupboards, he was thinking hard.

_"Maybe this really does mean nothing. Maybe he just wants to be friends. Maybe he just felt like being spontaneously nice." He watched Sanji in utter silence.  
"...Or maybe he feels the same way that I do. Maybe he's doing this out of kindness, or maybe even...love?" He wanted to laugh but he knew that now wasn't the time for that. He continued to think.  
"Or maybe he wants to fuck?" And there was Zoro's vulgarity shining through again.  
Well, you never know, right? _

Zoro unexpectedly slid the Bandana into conversation not too long after, and when Sanji touched him in the way that he did, he fucking **knew **that there was something behind it. There had to be. You don't touch your rival like that. They don't even touch casually so when you caress your rivals face, you know something's up. Zoro was still perplexed by it though. Rather than questioning whether Sanji felt anything for him or not, he was now shocked into thinking '**why?**'.

I suppose Zoro could ask himself the same about why he even liked Sanji. Oddly enough, he could answer that easily.  
_Well...He's always been pretty cool. Maybe cool's not the right word. Well, he's a gentleman (although more often that not for the wrong reasons), which is pretty refreshing to see. He even takes Nami's shit with ease, so he can be pretty patient when he wants to be. He's smart, too. He's a perfectionist too, right? He also never lets our rivalry get in the way of important things...There had been moments of peace between the two of us...He really is a good man. Good looking, to boot. _

Zoro could feel the corners of his mouth turn upwards. He took great pleasure in knowing that this man wanted to get be him.  
Speaking of which, what did he want out of this? Just being lovers sounded a bit...avaricious. Sanji was the type to be chivalrous, and therefore he probably wouldn't want to be around Zoro for one thing only. But then that would be like...dating.  
Zoro cringed. _Dating? _They were going to be nakama for presumably the rest of their lives, so isn't that a little unnecessary? I guess if you rephrased it and said that they were 'together', that made it a sound little better. Zoro felt that it was more suited to him than _'Pirate Hunter Zoro' was dating 'Black-leg Sanji'_. Zoro smacked a hand onto his forehead. _Christ. _

In all honesty, Zoro had never even thought that he'd be interested in someone like that. He assumed he'd spend his life sleeping and drinking and kicking ass as part of the Pirate King (Or rather, for now, _future _Pirate King)'s crew.

Well for now he was in no rush to make any rash decisions. Whatever happened was going to happen, and he may as well just roll with it and see where it takes him.

At the sound of heavy stomping footsteps rushing his way, Zoro begrudgingly opened his eye again and looked towards the doorway. It was Luffy.  
"OI! ZORO!" He clamored.  
"What?" Zoro had definitely had enough excitement for one day and he was hoping to relax. I guess he just wasn't going to get what he wanted today.  
"Let's go catch some fish!"  
"Why? Don't we have enough fish already?"  
"I'M BORED! Usopp's got our lines out and Franky said we might catch something HUGE 'cause the weather's so good!" The captain grinned and propped his hat back onto his head.  
"No, I've got watch tonight. I'm gonna sleep 'til then." Luffy looked disheartened at him.  
"Zoro! Don't be boring!"  
"I'm not being boring, I'm using my head! It's my turn to be on watch," Zoro sat up and felt a vein popping up on his forehead, "So if I've gotta be on watch, then I've gotta be awake all night!"  
Luffy had a look of sudden comprehension on his face. "Ooh, okay then!" He laughed and walked over to Zoro's hammock, plonking himself on the floor in the warmth that blazed in through the small window. He looked up at Zoro with a big smile.

"So what did you say to Sanji to make him so mad?"  
Zoro grunted. "Why does everyone care?" _But really, why __**did**__ everyone care?  
_Luffy just looked up at him, his eyebrows raised in a concerned fashion and he leaned back onto his elbows.  
"...I didn't say anything. We just had another stupid argument."  
"What was it about?"  
Zoro ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Why do you want to know? It's got nothing to do with anyone else but me and him." He didn't want to get worked up with him, but Luffy wasn't usually one to pry, so there had to be some reason for it. _What was with everyone lately?_

"At breakfast, Nami said that Sanji bought something in the market and she saw you with it at the table."  
Zoro lingered on that statement. "Is there a problem with that?" He ignored the fact that he had been so freaked out about it yesterday and played it cool.  
"There's no problem with it!" Luffy smiled again, "It's just that she said when she asked the stall vender how much it was, he said 10,000 Beli." Zoro's eye widened a little.

_'That curly-browed idiot! He said it was cheap! I'll get him for that later.' _He glanced back down to the Captain who was still seated on the floor. _'Trust Nami to worry over how much everyone's spending, even though it's not her damn money.' _  
"Nami was saying that if Sanji was pissed at you then it was probably because you were being ungrateful about it."  
Zoro was livid now. "What's it got to do with her? She's probably just saying that because she wanted his money to be spent on _her._" Luffy looked uneasy.  
"Zoro." He said with a somber tone. "I get that you don't really like him, but he's our Nakama. If y-"  
"Who said I don't like him?" Zoro interrupted him. The black haired boy looked surprised for a moment, then his expression softened.  
"So you do like him?"  
Zoro looked away. "...He's not so bad." He mentally scoffed at himself for being such an understating bastard.  
"Okay then!" Luffy beamed, "It'd be unusual to see you two getting along!" He got to his feet and walked to the door. "If you get bored, come up and fish with us!"  
"Will do, Captain." He sighed and nodded, closing his eye.

Zoro lay restless for a while.  
_'So that idiot really did go out of his way to get me a gift.' _He smiled to himself, running a finger along the Bandana that fitted snug against his forehead. _'Why can't it be night time already.'_

_"Zoro."  
A solemn voice disrupted the peaceful void in his head. He stirred.  
"Hey, Zoro." He could feel the brooding presence looming over him, easing him slowly into consciousness. They called again.  
_"**Get up Marimo.**"

Zoro opened his eye. He was absolutely sweating. Since he fell asleep the room had heated up like an oven and he felt like he was slowly being roasted. He gaped up at the man above him.  
"Supper's ready." The blonde man looked down at him, his arms folded and his mouth in a tight line.  
"Mn..." Zoro rubbed his eye. "Wait...Supper? What happened to dinner?"  
"You slept through it." He pouted. Zoro looked irked. "I did try waking you up."  
"You could have tried harder!" He groaned. Zoro didn't like missing his meals.  
"And how would I have done that, then? By kicking you in the face?" He glared at him. "I don't think so."

Sanji looked kind of upset. _Oops._  
Zoro's heart throbbed a little at the sulky expression on the other mans face. _"He's way too cute."_

"Alright, alright. I get it." He snickered. "What's for supper?"  
"Just some egg fried rice and a bunch of sides." Sanji looked down at him. "Everyone's already in the galley."  
"Cheh, there's not going to be anything left." Zoro grumbled and placed his feet on the floor.  
"I've put some to the side for you, don't worry."

The swordsman grinned. "Good, I'm starving."  
It was sweet. Everything Sanji did had become so lovely. It was like nothing he could do now was aggravating or annoying to the point where he even wanted to lay a hand on him.  
Well, in some respects, he certainly _did _want to lay a hand on him, just not in a way that would cause him harm.

Sanji was looking away. _"Is it just me, or does he look kind of pissed off?"  
_Zoro scrutinised his expression a little more.

"...You wanna kiss?"  
Sanji perked up. "...What makes you think that?"  
Zoro's lips curled up into a devious smirk. "I'm not saying that you want to, I'm asking you if you feel like doing it."  
Sanji's cheeks flushed.

"Of...of course."  
_God fucking damn it, he was so cute. _You could tell what a strong pretense he had been putting up earlier by the way he was now unable to look Zoro directly in the eye, by the way he stood so awkwardly, by the way he shuffled forwards delicately. Sanji leaned down to be level with him.  
"Don't look so cocky, you stupid bastard."  
"I'm not being cocky."

Sanji looked at him hesitantly. "If someone comes in, then I blame everything on you."  
"Deal." Zoro beckoned him closer.  
The touch of their lips was completely electrifying; Zoro could feel the surge of excitement quake through his body as Sanji pushed his tongue against his lips. Opening his mouth, Zoro intertwined their tongues agonisingly slowly, running his thumb gently against Sanji's bristly chin.

Sanji yanked the swordsman up by seam of his shirt and thrust him against the wall of the cabin.

_Oh?_

Zoro opened his eye in surprise and raised an eyebrow at the blonde. Their tongues were still going at it, though. Sanji scraped his thigh between Zoro's legs and tucked his arms into the mans shirt, wrapping them around his sweat-slicken back. Their mouths separated with a distinct pop, only to be forced back together seconds later with a profound moan on Sanji's behalf. Zoro shuddered.  
_Damn, Sanji was hot. _  
The blonde man proceeded to drag his hands over the tight muscles of Zoro's back, pushing his tongue deeper, grinding his leg harder and breathing heavily through his nose. The heat between them was immense. Or was that the passion? Zoro couldn't tell. He was completely overcome by Sanji's fiercely outlandish behaviour, and was determined to thoroughly enjoy every god damn second of it.

They broke away again, panting loud and Sanji pulled his hands out from his shirt.  
"Hot in here, huh?" Zoro's chest heaved. The other man looked at him with uncertainty.

"...I wanna do more." Sanji said quietly. His chest was still rising and falling like there was no tomorrow and Zoro just couldn't stop looking at those perfect lips.

_"...Wait. He wants to do __**more**__?" _Zoro returned the ambiguous expression.

"More...what?"  
Sanji looked away and placed his hands to Zoro's chest.  
"More...than that."

Zoro was confused. He had expected Sanji to be timid and frightened...he expected him to dance around the subject, or never even bring it up. _Doesn't he think that's a bit fast? _  
Zoro was intending to play it safe and take things slowly. As much as he wanted to utterly have his way with the other man, he didn't intend to ruin the new-found solidity of their current relationship. They'd only kissed for the first time a few hours ago.  
The green haired man stroked Sanji's hair and smiled.

"...I think we'd better go slower than that." He mopped his fringe from his face, "What if you do something you regret?"  
"I won't regret it if it's with you."  
Damn, the conviction behind those words almost swayed him.  
_Almost_.

"You might. I don't want that to happen." Was Zoro rejecting a golden opportunity to lay with Sanji? _Well, fuck. _Sometimes he cursed himself for having common sense in moments when he wished he had none to go by.  
In his heart he honestly knew that Sanji more than likely _would _go away regretting it, and then where would that leave them? It would render them fucked, in more ways than one.

He wasn't planning on allowing that.

Sanji looked thoroughly disconcerted. He opened his mouth to object further, but Zoro cut him short.  
"Just think about it. I want you to be more than certain about this."

Sanji backed off. Fuck_. He was hurt._

"Since when were you the fucking _king of compassion, Zoro?_ What kind of bullshit is that?" Zoro could see the embarrassment burning up on his face. "You think I'm a fucking child? I just threw myself at you and you're saying that I'm going to regret it?"  
He gestured his hand to Zoro's face.  
"Maybe you're scared that _**you're**_the one who's going to regret it?"

Sanji stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him and leaving Zoro frozen where he stood.

"**God damn it!**" Zoro shouted, smacking a fist against the wall.

_I guess he just wasn't going to get what he wanted today._


	5. Chapter 5

**WARNING! SMUT AHEAD!**

Well, seeing as Zoro's day had taken a turn for the worse, he was quite tempted by the idea of getting drunk off his ass tonight and lamenting what had happened earlier in the day.  
He had walked himself up to the galley in hope of grabbing his food but then he heard the crew talking to Sanji through the door, so he U-turned and stomped off up to the crows nest once again.  
He sat alone, brooding in the crows nest. Zoro had thought about doing some training, but every time he went to pick up the weights he found himself unable to take his mind away from what Sanji had said.  
_"Maybe you're scared that __**you're**__ the one who's going to regret it?"_

Well, shit. Maybe he_ was _the one who was scared. He hadn't really thought about it. Was he so used to assuming other peoples weaknesses that he hadn't realised his own? It felt like he was almost _unable _to comprehend the fact that he might be scared about doing something as detrimental as sleeping with Sanji. Looking around the room, his mind wandered for a bit.  
What would happen if they did sleep together?

The pro's, he thought, would be the obvious things; They'd no longer feel the tense, sexually frustrated air between them, they would briefly experience licentious bliss, if not for just one night, that would no doubt leave them wanting more, and they could even strengthen their connection with each other. Thinking about the pro's left Zoro feeling a deliciously lustful sensation in the pit of his gut.  
But the con's...not so much. The two of them, or at least one of them, could end up regretting the decision and putting it down to being a stupid choice made based off of fleeting feelings for each other that would never have amounted to anything. That, and it would ruin their bond as nakama. This made the whole idea of sleeping with him _not_ so tempting. Crossing his legs, he sat, falling deeper into thought.

_"We've known each other for a while. Now that we both know we want to fuck, we're probably going to keep feeling that way until we get it over with." _  
Zoro didn't like feeling trapped and unable to make a decision. He wished so very much that he could push the worries to the back of his mind and only think about the sunny-side to this whole situation, but it wasn't that easy. He mourned.  
_"If I'd just gone with raw feeling back there, I'd be doing him so hard right now."_ He hissed, leaning back onto the floor. Yes, he was going to continue sulking for a while now, and he didn't give a flying fuck because it was so frustrating to know that he'd rejected such an amazing offer.  
..._Not that Sanji's body was some sort of 'offering', _he mentally noted. God, even his inner monologue was worried about pissing the other man off.

You know what? _**Fuck it.**_When it all boiled down to it,__he liked Sanji. He wanted to have sex with him. It was that plain and simple. Whether he'd only just realised it, or he'd had the notion a while ago, what difference did that make? Sanji wanted him too. Sanji was willing to throw caution to the wind for a little while and just see where it took him, whereas Zoro didn't have the balls to do the same.  
No matter how much he beat himself up for it, it wasn't going to change a thing. Action was the only thing that would make a difference.

Alright, that was it. He was going to wait up on deck tonight. If Sanji didn't come to see him, then that was his choice.  
If he really _didn't_ come to see him, though, Zoro would sneak into the Cabin and physically drag Sanji's ass up there. _Maybe._  
Well, he probably would, yeah.

Man, what he would do to have Sanji on him...or vice versa. He wanted him so much that it was beginning to hurt.  
He should probably have loosened his trousers or something.

Licking a moist line from one corner of his mouth to the other, he swallowed, slipping a hand down to the tight tented material on his crotch. His eyelashes fluttered a little as he grazed his palm across the tip of his clothed erection, and he paused. _"Someone could come up here and catch me doing this." _He thought. He looked down to his hand and shuddered. _"...Bathroom it is then."_

He bit his lip and climbed the ladder down to the deck where the sun was still as unforgivingly hot as before. Keeping his lips sealed, he awkwardly walked to the bathroom, bolted the door and took a seat up against the bath. Exhaling, he unbuttoned his trousers and freed his cock from it's confines.

"Aah, _God_." The words practically poured from his mouth as he spread his thighs apart, shuffling his trousers further down under his ass. Just barely, he dragged his finger over the tip of his cock and stroked it softly, purring, tensing the strong muscles in his legs. _Now for the best part._

_Sanji pushed Zoro's legs further apart, pressing his fingertips into his smooth thighs with a sweet hum, lightly blushing as he looked down at his cock. He smirked up at Zoro from between his legs, and- _"Ah-" -_pawed at the soft flesh beneath his fingers. "Mm, Zoro..." He squished his lips against the tip of Zoro's throbbing erection, "May I?"_

_He breathed a warm, wet, shallow breath against him, dragging his slick tongue from base to head in one long lap. Zoro jerked his hips towards Sanji's mouth with an impassioned growl, earning an obscenely erotic moan from the other man as he gradually took him inside. It was deliberately slow and felt all the more amazing as he pushed it further in, flinching as it reached the back of his throat and he- _"-Nnf..." -_pulled back, but didn't stop. _

_Zoro lifted a hand roughly to Sanji's blonde locks and tangled his fingers into them. With sudden vigor, Sanji forced it inside once again, leaving Zoro almost whimpering at the unbelievable rush of pleasure. It was hot, slippery, and it felt so fucking good, Zoro couldn't help but move his hips with him. He rocked faster, watching the warm tears forming in Sanji's eyes as he scraped his tongue hard back and forth, Zoro riding with little restraint into his mouth. "_Ah- Fuck-" _He was already on edge, panting and gasping and so close to orgasm-  
_"_Sanji_-"  
"Zoro? So it's _you _in there?"

Zoro jolted a little.

_"Fuck. That's...his voice..." _Zoro hesitated for a moment, but didn't intend on stopping just because the man himself wanted entry to the bathroom. _Fuck that_.

"How'd you know I was out here? I only knocked."  
_"I didn't even hear you knock." _Zoro smirked, pumping himself just has fast as before. "Just a guess," he choked out, "Mm...what...do you want?"

"I want to use the bathroom, what do you think?" He heard Sanji's exasperated sigh from the other side of the door and he jerked forward, _"Oh shit-"  
_"Zoro?"  
He trembled, his cum pouring onto his hand with a deep and carnal moan, sliding his hand gingerly down his shaft and he rested his head on the edge of the bath. _Oh fuck __**yes**__._

Sanji was quiet.

"...You're not doing what I think you're doing, right?" He said, adopting a rather flustered tone to his voice. The room was filled with the swordsman's harsh panting and Sanji listened through the door, holding a hand to his gaping mouth. Zoro breathed heavily and grinned a devilish smirk.  
"You bet I am."

Sanji was stunned into silence. All he could do was make odd, shocked noises with his throat as he held onto the door handle.

"**Why?**" He was really struggling to comprehend it. The blonde man shook his head and felt the heat rise at an unforgiving pace to his cheeks and neck. The thought of Zoro doing..._that_...was unbelievably arousing, of course, but at the same time just down right unbelievable that Sanji had stumbled upon him during his alone time. _Thank God he'd locked the fucking door._

Zoro was very slowly coming down from his high, still keeping to that viciously lustful timbre.  
"Mm..." Zoro purred again, "Because I was thinking about you..."  
Sanji gritted his teeth. "S-stop beingridiculous!We were arguing about half an hour ago!"  
"You think I'm lying?" Zoro steadily got up, walking to the roll of tissue paper and yanking some off with his clean hand. "Wanna come in and see?"  
Zoro laughed, because he knew exactly what he could expect in reply. He cleaned himself up and tossed the soiled tissue into the toilet, tucking himself back into his trousers. The taps screeched as he twisted them and the water came gushing out onto his hands.

"Get out of there already Marimo!" Sanji shouted, kicking the door with the front of his shoe, "I need to piss! Disgusting bastard." As much as Sanji would more than _love_ to join him, he honestly needed the toilet and at the same time wasn't in the mood to forgive him for what he'd said.

Zoro sauntered over to the door, flicking the latch across and flinging the door back, standing face to face with the other man. Sanji was blood red, glaring at him with his arms crossed tight across his chest.  
"...You're joking about doing..._that_, right?"  
"Doing what?" Zoro deadpanned, "Masturbating?"  
"**DON'T!**" Sanji yelled, covering his ears, "Don't say it! I don't want to hear it! Let me use the bathroom!" He rushed by him, shoving Zoro out of the door and switching places with him.

Zoro pressed his forehead to the door, an evil grin spreading across his face.  
"Oi, _perverted-cook_..."  
"Fuck off, Marimo!" He instantly retorted. It was really entertaining to tease him.

"Oi..." Zoro leaned into the side of the bolted door, "I can go again if you like."  
"I can't pee with you saying dirty shit like that!" Sanji yelped, "God damn it, go away!" The swordsman couldn't resist the urge to laugh any longer and banged his fist against the wall next to him.

"Alright, I get it! Hahaha!"  
"...Now!"  
"Will you come see me on watch?" Zoro said quietly. He was a real demon when he wanted to be.  
"Fine! Yes, now go away! Christ, Zoro!"

"I'll be waiting then. If you don't show, I'll come get you."  
Sanji stumbled over his thoughts, "...I'll show!"  
"Hm...Alright then." Zoro could have sworn that he heard Sanji mumble something like _'now who's the fucking pervert' _as he walked away from the door, but he took it in his stride considering how well they'd both dealt with that situation.

_"Wow, that could've gone bad."_ He thought. Zoro couldn't even imagine how that would have gone if they hadn't already confessed their feelings for each other. As post-orgasm fog lifted from his mind, he started to consider things a little more sensibly.

...Shit, it would have gone **horribly**! It wasn't his fault, though; it was Sanji's fault for being so arousing. His lovely ass, his porcelain skin, his lean, strong_, perfect_ legs...  
Zoro nodded to himself as he confidently shifted the blame for what had transpired, feeling his erratic heartbeat finally get itself back to normal. As his thoughts slowly settled, he really thought about what had just happened.

**Sanji had caught him masturbating**. He'd even said the bastard's _name_. He'd even tried hitting on him _right after he'd finished_. Oh good _**God**_.

Zoro smacked his head into the corridor wall, then continued as if nothing had happened. It was best to just let it go because the more he dwelled on that, the more he'd want to strangle himself.

_"I wonder what Sanji's thinking right now?" _He cringed at the thought of what Sanji must think of him after that. Bah, he'll deal with his teasing and his comments later. He wasn't the type to bring that kind of thing up around anyone anyway so there was no need to worry about risking public humiliation in the kitchen.

He lifted his head and stepped into the galley shielded by his confident facade, walking passed the crew who were about to evacuate the room. He set his eyes on the plate of food in the corner that Sanji had laid out for him. _How cute._

"Zoro!" Nami said, turning to face him as he walked by. She didn't sound too happy.  
The man just picked up his food and looked at her questionably.  
"What?"  
"You said something to Sanji again, didn't you?"  
"_I've said a lot of things to Sanji, one of the most recent being an invitation to come see the aftermath of my orgasm in the bathroom." _Like fuck he'd say that. He felt his lip pull into a smirk as he envisioned his own stupidity. He actually felt like he was guilt-tripping himself the more that he bought it up.  
She waved her finger at him.

"A couple of minutes ago he was in here looking even more riled up than last time!"  
"He's fine."  
"Don't be so inconsiderate!" She raised her voice. "You think you're so God damn great? How about you give a shit about how he feels once in a while, huh?"

Zoro didn't feel like arguing. He had just released all of his pent-up tension in the bathroom, and now Nami was trying to ignite some stupid banter?

...Well, as much as he didn't feel like it, he wasn't the type to be bitten and not bite back.

"How about _you _give a shit about how he feels. You treat him like garbage and he treats you like some kind of fucking Goddess incarnate. Maybe you're too far up your own ass to notice, you money-grabbing witch."  
The inhabitants of the galley stood in awe.  
"Oi, you guys..." Usopp intervened but was immediately overruled.  
"Excuse me? Do you know how troubled Sanji looks whenever you're around?" She took a step forward, "No, of course you don't, because you don't care about him. Have a little respect for your Nakama, you stupid green-haired bastard!"  
Robin pulled the other seething woman gently by the arm. "Nami, let's go to the women's quarters." She said softly. Nami looked like she was going to throw a fit, but instead she turned around and dashed out of the door, closely followed by her peacemaker.

The rest of the crew turned to Zoro.

"Zoro, you shouldn't talk to Nami like that." Chopper said apprehensively. The swordsman put his food down, feeling the anger bubble up in his stomach.  
"So I should let her talk shit to me?"  
"That's..." The reindeer looked around, intimidated by his glare. Luffy didn't look pleased.

"Chopper has a point, and so does Nami."  
Zoro gritted his teeth.  
"Bullshit, she doesn't know what she's talking about! She doesn't know anything!" He slammed his clenched fist onto the table, making the stacked plates rattle against the cutlery and sending an unnerving noise through the air. "It's fucking stupid! Me and the cook are getting along better than ever and she's there trying to put me down and make me feel like shit. I'm dumb, but not dumb enough to take that."  
"Oi, you know what her temper's like, you should just let it go." Franky scratched the back of his head. "And it's true what she said. Curly-bro does act weird when you're around."

The captain stood by with a fierce expression on his face.  
"Zoro, don't treat Nami that way. No matter what she does, you're not going to fight with her like you did just now. I'm not having hostility between my Nakama."

Zoro was close to flipping the table over. He was so fucking _infuriated,_ but he wasn't going to go against his Captain.

"Fine. I got it." Zoro said, seating himself at the table. "It ain't happening again."

"Good." Tilting his hat down, Luffy left the room, followed by Franky, then Brook, then Usopp.  
Chopper stayed grounded as the door closed after them.

"Zoro." He said. His voice was shaking and he nervously approached him. His eyes overflowed with tears. "Why is everyone arguing? We're all family, right? We shouldn't argue with each other!"  
Zoro exhaled, resting a hand on Chopper's head.  
"I don't want to argue with anyone." _Although it turns out everyone wants to argue with me. Heh, go figure. _

"You and Sanji are getting along, right? You're not lying?" He wiped his nose against his arm.  
"I'm not lying."  
Chopper looked unconvinced.  
"But he's been acting weird!"  
"How's he been acting, then?"  
He hopped up onto the bench and sat down next to him, sniffling and beginning to get short of breath. "He looks scared around you. Whenever you -hic- come in the room, he looks all tense, like he doesn't want to be here."

_Does he really look like that?  
_Zoro absent-mindedly looked across the room.  
"Why does everyone choose to shout at me rather than asking the man himself, huh?" Zoro picked up his fork. "Can't get a more straight-forward answer than that."  
"But Sanji's the type to lie to make everyone feel better, he's always pretending that he's fine when he's actually-"

"Whaa, Chopper, are you okay?" The chef hurriedly stepped through the door, picking up the reindeer and stroking his back without delay. "Did that _bastard _Marimo say something to make you cry?"  
Zoro rolled his eyes. _"Hey hey hey hey, insulting me does not help the current situation."_

Chopper blinked his tears away.  
"Sanji, are you scared of Zoro?"

The room went a little quieter than it should have. Sanji looked from the reindeer to the other man, in which he received a shrug as a silent _'don't even ask'._ Sanji grinned.  
"_Me?_ Scared of a complete moron with no sense of direction? Don't be ridiculous."  
Zoro grunted, but began eating his meal. Chopper looked surprised.  
"Really? Are you two...friends, then?"  
He nodded. "Yep."  
Sanji set him down on the floor, patting his hat down onto his head. He smacked Zoro's back and laughed. Zoro assumed that was for the whole bathroom thing earlier by the amount of force that had gone into it. It sent his half-chewed food flying across the room. _Bastard_.  
"We're just play-fighting. Right, Marimo?"

Zoro smacked the other man's ass and Sanji let out a piercing yelp.  
"Yep."

Chopper beamed an excited smile, rubbing his sore eyes. "What a relief! I'm so happy you two are getting along!"  
Sanji glared at Zoro, but was quickly ushered into silence when he kept his hand firmly placed on his butt. He gritted his teeth hard as the man continued to knead him, and thanked _God_ that Chopper was oblivious to it.  
"Me too. I'll think about apologising to Nami later, so you can go to bed now." Chopper nodded.  
"Good night then you two! If you're going to be on watch tonight Zoro, make sure to stay warm! It's going to be cold tonight." Chopper said with a serious expression firmly set on his face. Well, he was the doctor after all.  
"Oh, I'll be warm enough. Don't worry about that." He squeezed Sanji's ass hard, watching the man clench his fist as Chopper left the room with a smile.

"Oh, you are fucking _asking _for it, Marimo!" Sanji's cheeks turned a deep scarlet and he kicked Zoro's hand away, scooting out of his reach and placed his hands over his rear. "If Chopper hadn't been stood there I would have kicked your stupid ass through the floorboards!"

It was funny. Zoro had suddenly lost interest in eating the food Sanji had prepared.  
Something else was on his mind now.

"You've got a nice ass." He teased. Sanji rolled his eyes and growled under his breath.  
"Shut up."  
Zoro stood up and reached his hand towards Sanji's face. "You embarrassed?" He snorted. Sanji shook his head.  
"I'm not embarrassed." He cautiously nestled his face in closer to Zoro's hand until his palm was soft against the blonde's scorching cheek. "...Well, that's a lie. I'm actually pretty embarrassed that I like a guy with such _shit _for brains."

Sanji's expression changed from pleasant to painful in an instant and he buried his face into his hands. "Why in the fuck were you jacking off earlier?"  
Zoro thought back, waaaay back to what bought it on.  
"Huh." He pondered, "I was angry. Then I thought about you some more. Then I was thinking about how much I regretted stopping you when I did." Zoro inhaled deep through his nose and raised a hand to his chin. "Then I thought about what we'd have done. And then I thought about what I was going to do to you later..."  
Sanji was determined to look completely pensive...but it didn't go unnoticed by Zoro. He saw the shift in Sanji's glance, and the brief movement of his throat as he swallowed. Zoro leaned in closer. "Well, what I'm going to do to you_ now._"  
The tanned man clawed at Sanji's collar, yanking a few buttons and pulling it down to reveal his rose-coloured neck. He staggered backwards, but Zoro caught the small of his back and forcibly pressed his lips to one of his collarbones. Sanji felt shivers shoot up his spine like a current of electricity. "Don't kiss there!" He protested, pushing down on Zoro's shoulders.  
"So you want lower?" He sneered.  
"That's not what I mean!" Sanji said frantically. The other man laughed, but continued downwards anyway. _"Perverted-cook sure is cute when I'm scaring him."  
_Zoro watched as broad muscles contracted when his lips ghosted over them. The feeling of making Sanji weak was exhilarating, and he could already feel the constricting pull of the fabric against his groin. He got chills as he heard Sanji positively _whimper_ when he raked his wet tongue from the man's naval up to his chest.  
He certainly knew how to get Zoro hard.

"Stop, don't go lower!" Sanji said, his voice shaking and he winced. Zoro looked up at him, crouched on the floor in front of his crotch, one hand holding firmly onto his waistband.  
"Why not?"

Sanji hoisted him from up from the floor and threw him down onto the sofa, clutching Zoro's hair in his hand tightly and pulling it back.  
"What th-"  
"Shut up, Marimo. You're not going to play with me."

Zoro tried to lift his head up but couldn't.

Sanji exhaled a shakey breath. "Oh God, Zoro..." He let his shirt slide to his elbows, still holding onto the other man's hair. Zoro heard the sound of Sanji's fly unzipping and jolted. He had thought for a second there that Sanji was going to seriously protest against what they were doing, but as it turns out he was just being stubborn.  
He wasn't scared of letting him take control...he was more than happy as long as he got to watch as he did it.  
"Whoa, let me sit up, I won't move."  
Sanji didn't budge yet, though. All that Zoro could hear was the fumbling of clothes and the occasional pant on Sanji's behalf, until he felt the mans free hand pressing down on his erection. He could literally feel it _**throbbing**_ beneath Sanji's fingers, and he was slowly breaking down waiting for some real contact. He shuffled uncomfortably as he felt himself twitch and he grunted.  
"Fuck, Shit-cook, don't be so delicate with me."

"Tell me what you thought about earlier."  
Zoro stopped struggling. Did Sanji just ask him what he had thought about earlier? Earlier as in...when he was...y'know_...whacking one out_?  
There he sat in contempt. Hm.  
He didn't really want to say to Sanji 'Yep, well now that you mention it, you had your head between my legs and were sucking me off pretty good'.  
Would that be offensive? It certainly sounded offensive, even though it wasn't supposed to be. Maybe, _just maybe_, Zoro thought, Sanji was hoping to re-enact his fantasy?  
Zoro chose not to get his hopes up. He shrugged. He was thinking far too much for a man with a distracting, aching hard-on between this legs.  
Okay, no more thoughts.

"You mean in the bathroom?"  
"Mm...Yeah." He loosened his grip on Zoro's hair and let him move freely. For every deliciously low and enticing sound that Sanji made as he spoke, a crack appeared in the swordsman's sanity. It was like Sanji was _oblivious _to how attractive he was, and was simply acting upon pure lust. Almost like he wasn't sure what he was doing, but somehow everything he did was perfect.  
"Ah...You were just..." Zoro looked down between the two of them.  
Sanji was straddling his lap, trousers still hoisted around his waist, shirt all crumpled up and hung seductively around his arms. Oh, and his cock was now pressing down on the stretched fabric against his own.  
_Oh._

"I was just...what?"

Oh damn, Sanji had a totally sexy and lust-driven look upon his face. The way his eyes kept fluttering closed and he chewed on his bottom lip. Zoro had concluded that whatever happened, he was never going to regret seeing the chef all lewd and dishevelled like this.

"You were...suck-" Sanji scraped himself unyieldingly against Zoro's cock mid-sentence. The swordsman could barely keep his eyes fixed on him for too long, it felt like he was going to go crazy. He flicked his head back against the wall, feeling his underwear growing more and more wet as the friction increased between them. Zoro lifted his hands to Sanji's waist, holding him steady. Sanji was looking down at him, sweat forming on his brow and chest.  
"I was...what?" He smirked, breathlessly teasing him in return for all of those times today that Zoro had teased him. He unbuttoned Zoro's trousers and watched as the other man gasped at the freedom.

"You were..." Zoro's head was getting cloudy, "Sucking me o-" Sanji was now grinding into Zoro's crotch at a steady (but unbelievably mind-blowing) pace. He watched his face contort and his body jolt, and he pulled Zoro's hand down from his chest, resting it between them.  
"O-oi, Marimo."  
Zoro opened his eye and looked the other man over.

His fringe was becoming matted, clinging to his forehead as Sanji half-heartedly brushed it away with his wrist. He smelled like musk and some kind of fruity hair product that he must have used earlier today, and the heat was making it viciously enticing. He leisurely wrapped his fingers around Sanji's erection and shivered at the soft _'Oh' _that escaped his plump lips. Zoro didn't want to get this over with too quickly, but he had a sneaking (and lust-obscured) suspicion that it was going to end very soon.

Sanji looked so beautiful and turned on that he couldn't help it.  
Without delay, he began to pump him indulgently and after a few gasps of his own, Sanji did the same for Zoro. There was something about this side of Sanji that made Zoro gawk and care less about himself, and more about doing his best to please him and watch the blonde on his lap writhe with pleasure. For a while now, he'd had a suppressed longing for something. In his head and his heart, _in his whole entire body_, he had finally realised that it was this. Not sex, no. It was _Sanji_.

The air around them was hot and humid, thick with the moans and gasps that were eliciting from the both of them. _'Shit...he sounds really fucking hot...'_ was an almost constant thought on his mind, and he began thrusting his hips desperately up into Sanji's hand harder and harder. Even his thoughts had become slurred and messed up, as he'd now reached a point where it was almost impossible to concentrate. As Zoro felt the tension build up quickly in his groin he hastened the movement of his own hand, making Sanji shake and educe a loud, erotic moan.  
"Zoro-! Ah- gonna- c-come-"  
_Nn, Sanji's saying my name.  
_"Wait- I'm c- ah!"  
_It feels so good-  
_"Zoro!"  
_Fuck-!  
_  
Zoro convulsed and groaned. Releasing hard and hazily taking in the sublime expression that now rested upon Sanji's face, he felt the unbridled wave of euphoric bliss wash over him and he closed his eye tightly.

Reality had faded out. Zoro respired slowly and evenly now, and he opened his eye lazily to admire the view.

"Shit..." Sanji breathed, an exhausted smile quirking the corner of his mouth. He mopped his forehead with the back of his hand and sat himself down comfortably, legs still spread but bent on either side of Zoro's lap. Zoro smiled back at him.

"We got our clothes dirty." The blonde said, gazing pseudo-remorsefully down at the aftermath of their enjoyment. Ignoring the trembling of the adrenaline that still surged in his hands, he fumbled for a cigarette in his pocket and searched for a light in the other. "Hah, I'm all sweaty." He lit it up, "Feels gross."

Between the two of them, Sanji seemed to be the more complacent after what they'd just done, and that didn't bother Zoro at all. In all honesty, it felt more like a weight had been lifted as opposed to feeling the weight of regret that he'd been so nervously expecting. Zoro smoothed a hand over Sanji's chest and sat in a very much satisfied silence, breathing slowly, watching the other man take prolonged drags from his cigarette as he observed the smoke that dissipated out of his mouth.

"You want to go shower?" Zoro mirthfully suggested. He rubbed his fingers together and looked questionably at the oily feel of sweat between them.  
"Depends." The cook tapped the ash from off of his cigarette. "Will you be joining me?"  
Zoro grinned and parted his lips to retort, but he stopped.

_Was that the sound of footsteps coming their way?_

__By the look on Sanji's face, he'd heard it too.

The man jumped up off of his lap and quickly shrugged the soiled shirt up over his back, darting across the room behind the counter and tucking himself into his pants. Zoro hurriedly seated himself at the table and scooted his chair as close to it as he could. Luckily the tablecloth was covering the...obtrusive liquid that was beginning to stain his clothes. They shared a brief glance, and Sanji leaned casually against the counter.

The footsteps grew louder. Neither of them were sure if the person was just passing by the door or coming into the galley, but as the saying goes, better safe than sorry.  
Zoro cleared his throat.

"Zoro, are you in there?" Nami sounded from just beyond the door.  
Sanji remained silent.  
"Yeah." Zoro replied hesitantly. "I'm just...eating." He pulled the plate from earlier towards him. It was stone cold but at least you couldn't tell that just by looking at it.

The woman opened the door and stepped inside, looking somewhat surprised to see Sanji stood across from her. He waved soundlessly and smiled, keeping the cigarette between his lips.  
"Ah, Sanji-kun! I didn't know you were in here too." She mused, looking over to Zoro. She paused. "It smells kind of weird in here."  
Sanji tried his best to keep a straight face but ended up just holding his cigarette between his fingers and clasping his hand to his mouth.  
"Must be the perverted-cook's cooking."  
Sanji's expression immediately warped into a stern glare and he crossed his arms. "It's _not _my cooking."  
Zoro chuckled and setting his eyes upon Nami.  
"Did you want something?" He asked, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. The woman walked over to the sink and filled up a glass of water.  
"I'm just thirsty."

Zoro hummed in acknowledgement. He could tell by the look in her eyes and the tension in her shoulders that a drink was probably not just what she came to the kitchen for. She kept glancing to Sanji in a way that looked like he was stopping her from saying what was on her mind.

"...For earlier," She began, hoping that Sanji wouldn't question her words, "I'm sorry."  
She clenched her fingers around the cup; She'd probably been agonising over their spat earlier and wanted to sort things out when they were alone as to not risk humiliation. Luckily Sanji wasn't there to see it happen, so what she was apologising for was unbeknownst to him.

Zoro waved his hand in dismissal. "It's alright, don't apologise. I'm sorry too."  
Nami placed the cup to her lips and took a sip of her drink. Sanji chose not to fawn over Nami like he normally would, simply for the fact that if he moved from where he was standing she'd clearly be able to see the utter state that his trousers were in. Nami set her cup down on the counter gently and grinned in Sanji's direction.  
"Thank you for dinner by the way. It was delicious as usual." Her praise did not go disregarded. Sanji tilted his head and swooned, plucking the cig from his mouth.  
"It's no problem, my beautiful Nami-swan, you deserve only the best!"  
She looked at him tentatively.

"Why do you look so sweaty?" She enquired, stepping closer to him, "Your hair's all stuck to your face."  
Sanji almost dived away from her, but held himself steady. She flicked his hair from off of his cheek, earning a flinch from him as she caught his nose.  
"Ahh...I was..." Sanji struggled to process the question, "I was training up on deck about 10 minutes ago."  
"Training? What, have you turned into Zoro now?" She giggled. Zoro snorted at the cook's terrible excuse.  
"Of course not, Nami-swan! I'm not pond-life."  
"Oi." Zoro growled, earning a loud laugh from the lady across from him.  
"Hahaha! I'm sorry, that's not what I meant." She began to walk out of the kitchen, flipping her hair over her shoulder and opening the door, "I'm happy that you two are getting along now. See you in the morning."  
"Good night, Nami-chan!"  
"Good night."

The door closed behind her and the room heaved a sigh of relief. The blonde man pulled himself away from his fixed position at the counter and brushed his fringe up onto the top of his head, exhaling and smiling wide in Zoro's direction.  
"That was pretty fucking close."  
Zoro nodded, chuckling softly and beckoning the other man over to the table with a simple raise of his head. Sanji complied.

Clearing all of the plates to one side, Sanji crawled closer to him.  
Zoro was surprised with how well Sanji had carried that out. They didn't need to say anything; As soon as they had realised someone was coming, they knew what to do. They did tend to think alike sometimes, and that's why Zoro could be himself around him. It was a pleasant sight to see Sanji all serious and competent (not that he usually_ wasn't, _but you know).  
Sanji crawled up on the table in front of the smug man and leaned down low, pressing their lips together in a savory, short-lived kiss.

Short-lived because Nami had walked back into the room.  
"Oops, I left my drink on the count-"

...

"-Er?"

Turning around silently, the Navigator left the room again.

Sanji looked at Zoro, and Zoro looked at the door.

Zoro looked back at Sanji, but Sanji was already sprinting out of the room.  
"**Nami-san!** I can explain! Wait a second!" He bellowed after her, all the while Zoro jogged behind him thinking a chorus of _fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

"I didn't see anything!" She shrieked, covering her ears.  
"No- no wait, really! Just stop a second!"  
"No way!"  
"Oi, Sanji-"  
"Nami-swan! Please wait!" Sanji cried fervidly. Nami disappeared into the girls' quarters, leaving Sanji lamenting in the hallway.

Zoro rested a hand on the blonde's shoulder.  
"It's okay, don't worry." He gritted his teeth.

_"Shiiiiit."_

-x-x-x-

_Hey everyone! Here's a big ol' melodramatic smut chapter. Well, what do you guys expect. On a ship of 9 people do you really think that doing shit in the galley was a good idea? Like, seriously? Huff.  
Anyway, I hope you're enjoying so far! I'll keep updating often if I can, so please leave a review if you feel like it! Reviews make me so happy, I get to sneakily read them at college when no one's looking...Bahaha. I proof-read these chapters all the time, so if I've made a mistake, I'll correct myself soon..! Thank you for the support so far, and I hope to see you next time :)_


	6. Chapter 6

_(Here we go again!)_

The cavernous echo of the door slamming rang through Sanji's eardrums like a gunshot.  
It ignited a feeling in his chest that was hard to suppress. It swelled in his throat and it agitated his stomach; It made him feel like he was going to vomit or cry, neither of which were very appropriate.  
Maybe it was just the shock of this unexpected happening and he was panicking.  
He was crouched on his knees, Zoro standing sturdy behind him as the blonde man gripped his own hair tightly between his fingers.  
"Don't worry." The upright man said calmly, although Sanji could sense the unsettlement in his voice, "Don't get worked up over it."  
Sanji refused to reply. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He felt more like he wasn't able to reply, but he couldn't distinguish whether it was due to the bile rising in his throat or the lack of knowing what to say. Zoro tousled his hair with a strong and callous hand.

Sanji hadn't wanted anyone to find out about this.  
It was such bad luck. Ridiculous bad luck. He had only recently worked up the courage to confess, and just when he thought that he was smoothing out the creases and it was all going perfectly, that good old bad luck had come right back to kick him in the teeth. When all was going right, it seemed that the only thing that could happen next was something terribly wrong.  
Although, from the beginning, he'd honestly never really considered that something such as this could happen. He had barely considered Zoro's acceptance, let alone the rest of the crew's.  
Zoro just gritted his teeth.  
"Let's go get changed."The two of them walked to the bathroom, cleaned up in more or less silence, and then headed up on deck. Zoro still had duties to attend to, and there was no point pretending that they didn't exist.

Zoro didn't know what to say.  
The time passed slowly, the awkward lack of conversation weighing down on him like a ton of bricks, but by the look on the blonde man's face he obviously didn't want to talk about it.  
With every drag of his cigarette, and every stream of smoke that left his nostrils or lips, Zoro grew more uneasy.  
_"Is there something I'm supposed to be saying?" _ Zoro's eyes rested upon Sanji's tired face.

"Y'know…" Zoro began. Sanji's attention was drawn, but he still possessed the same expression. "I'm glad."  
The other man looked at him. "…Glad?" He hissed, "You're _glad_ that this happened?" Zoro shook his head.  
"I don't regret doing what we did. Even if we've been found out." The swordsman placed a hand on the chef's shoulder. "I'm in the same mess as you, so stop looking so ashamed of yourself, shit-cook."  
Sanji looked away from him.  
"But…even so…" He slumped over, plucking the cigarette from his lips, "…Nami-san saw. I still can't believe it." Zoro laughed slightly and removed his hand from his shoulder, folding his arms.  
"She's probably confused. An hour ago she was yelling at me about how I treat you like shit…" He scoffed, "And then half an hour later she walks in on us kissin' over the table. I'd be confused too."  
Sanji couldn't help but let out a cynical chuckle as he reviewed the situation in such a way.  
"I suppose at least she didn't walk in any earlier…" The blonde said with a slight shudder. "…You're an idiot."  
"You're the idiot, curly-brow."  
"Eat shit, Marimo."

Zoro turned away from him with a grunt, then with unrestrained force threw his head down into Sanji's lap. He huffed.  
"Bein' on watch isn't all that bad." He smiled up at the sky, somewhat obscured by the underside of Sanji's chin as he tried to get a good look at the stars.  
Zoro felt…kind of content with the current situation. He really couldn't give a shit that Nami had caught them, because, well, it sure proved her wrong.  
He reached up and caressed the bristles of the other's chin.  
"…Do you think she'll tell the others?" Sanji chewed his lip anxiously, swallowing the lump in his throat.  
"…I don't know. She might."  
"I don't want that!" He said, his tone became more of a hushed yell as he looked down at the swordsman. Zoro folded his arms.  
"Why not?"  
"I'm…" Sanji shook his head and closed his eyes. "I'm not ready for that. It's too much." He crushed his cigarette out on the wooden boards of the Merry exasperatedly and raised a hand to his forehead.

Zoro continued to watch him silently.  
"We'll just have to deal with it." His bluntness was almost aggravating at this point, but Sanji just looked away.  
_"As if I didn't know that much."_ The chef sighed, growling rather than voicing his thoughts. He lay his hand upon Zoro's chest and pressed his fingers down softly into the material.

"So what are you worried about?"  
Sanji's expression was tilting between 'I'm not sure' and 'a lot of things'. It's a shame Zoro wasn't the incredibly articulate type, because he was really lacking when it came to knowing what to say in order to make this guy feel better.  
"Just...I..."  
"Yeah?"  
"What will they think of me? What will they think of you? What will they think of _us?_ Do you see where I'm coming from?" Sanji's fingers almost clawed Zoro's shirt into his palm, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"  
Zoro arched a brow.  
"Do you really care about what they'll think?"  
Sanji almost looked offended.  
"Of **course **I care what they think! They're...we're nakama, damn it!" He shuffled out from under Zoro's head, pacing to the right side of the ship. He propped his hands onto the edge as he looked out onto the black ocean, staring out to the point where the sea met stars. Everything seemed to look a lot more peaceful in a deep black-blue glow. "...I care because I love them all. If they're not...ok with this..." He shook his head, "I mean, if they treat either of us differently because of this, I don't know...if I'll be able to take it."

The other sat up and exhaled. "They'll have to be okay with it."  
Sanji scowled. He shoved a hand into his pocket to find himself another cigarette, but kept his lips sealed shut in a tight frown.  
"Because I'm not giving them a choice."  
The blonde's hands paused as his fingers nipped at the filter of the cigarette, and he kept his eyes on Zoro's form from across deck. With that same stupid audacious smirk as usual, the ever-so-slightly taller man approached the blonde and raised his hand to his cheek.  
"Don't think that I'm joking." He grinned. His fingers kneaded beneath Sanji's hair gently, and with a huff, Sanji tilted his head into the other's palm. "They're not like that, anyway. They're not gonna mind."  
"…Mm." The chef hummed in a more cheerful tone, then continued his previous motion and slithered his cigarette from out of his pocket.  
"...I hope so."

-x-x-x-

Nami walked briskly back to her bed with an almost mortified expression set upon her face. She didn't look happy. She sure didn't _feel _happy. In fact, she felt almost as if everything she'd known about two of her nakama had been a complete falsification and she didn't like the way that felt at all. She shook her head and sat down on her mattress, resting her face in her hands.  
Robin sat up from the bed beside her.  
"Is everything alright, Miss Navigator?"

Nami wasn't sure how to approach this conversation. Should she approach it at all? Was it really something she should be saying without giving much thought to beforehand?  
She furrowed her brow and groaned.  
"...Robin," She began, hesitantly so as she recollected what she'd witnessed moments ago, "Something just happened, but I..."  
Robin smiled and nodded her head.  
"...You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone. No one."  
"Not a soul." The older woman chimed, resting her hands in her lap and maintaining her focus on the other's words.

Nami gritted her teeth and looked back towards the door awkwardly.  
"I...I went to apologise to Zoro, but it-uh...Sanji was there too, and I couldn't just apologise in front of the two of them like that. I made myself a drink, said sorry, and left." She was almost stumbling over her words, but other than that the explanation was going quite smoothly. Robin just continued to smile, letting Nami know that she was still listening.  
"Is that all?" The raven haired woman asked.  
"No!" Nami squeaked abruptly, waving her hands in front of her face and then releasing an exasperated sigh. "I left my drink, so I went back to get it, and they..." Nami gritted her teeth.  
"Hm?" Robin piped up to fill the thick silence.  
"...They were _kissing._"

Robin's eyebrows raised. "...Oh my."  
Nami closed her eyes and sighed. "I just don't understand. I don't understand those two at all."  
Robin was at a loss for words, so she kept to herself for a few moments and waited for the younger woman to say something.

Nami lifted her head up sharply.  
"I thought they _hated_ each other! They're always fighting! Always!" She threw her hand out accusatively in their general direction (even through the walls of the ship) and then slammed her fist back down onto the bed. "I...I argued with Zoro not long ago about him being so damn well abusive to Sanji, and yet...here we are." Her eyes bore holes into the wooden panelling of the floor and she seethed. "Is there something I've been misunderstanding this whole time? Is there something I've not been seeing, that everyone else has?!"  
Robin placed a hand on Nami's knee and gave her a pleasant smile.

"I understand your shock, Miss Navigator." She chuckled, "I also seem to have been misinterpreting their actions."  
Nami's eyes met her friend's and her frantic heartbeat slowed. She was just so very confused about all of this. She flopped back onto the bed with a growl.  
Robin continued to laugh, and allowed the silence to overtake their conversation once more.

"...Do you think anyone else knows?"  
The archaeologist withdrew her hand and placed it in her lap once more. "I doubt that. Considering that they were doing this sort of thing after dark..." She giggled to herself, "...I suppose that implies that they wouldn't like to be caught, wouldn't you agree?" Nami just groaned again. Her responses were becoming incredibly lacking due to the fact that she was suddenly mentally exhausted.  
"I think you should get some sleep." Robin smiled, gently calming the other down with her soothing tone.  
"...I suppose you're right." Nami sat herself up on her bed, yanking the covers out from beneath her and shrugging them back over herself.  
"You shouldn't worry yourself just because of this, Miss Navigator. Get some rest and we can continue talking in the morning."

Robin took Nami's half-hearted nod as an okay, turning out the bedside lamp and laying herself back down.

Even so, the orange haired woman did not sleep for another half hour or so. She stared indifferently into the darkness, hearing every creak of the ship, every inhale and exhale of the one occupying the room with her. Her mind was full of so many thoughts, all of which she honestly felt she shouldn't really be concerned with, but nevertheless, she continued her concern…

And then she closed her eyes.

-x-x-x-

That morning, Sanji woke up in his bed. The rain drummed on the walls of the ship and the wind wailed, but that didn't bother him at all. He must have fallen asleep at some point when they had lay down on deck, but surely he didn't walk himself there. The man could feel an earnest smile creeping up onto his lips, and although he tried to resist, he only found himself grinning more, and thinking '_How the hell did that rough bastard not wake me up?_'.

He stretched, nonchalantly flopping his legs over the side of the bed as he looked around the room. Judging by the little amount of light at that moment, he could make a relatively safe assumption that it was around 6am. About time for him to make breakfast.  
Sliding out of the sheets, he lethargically shrugged his shirt up onto his slender shoulders, fiddling with the buttons, tousling his hair into shape…Luckily no one else was awake, so he had time to have a quick shower and such. He roughly tugged on the remainder of missing clothes (because he couldn't be walking around half-naked with women present) and slumped off to the bathroom, where he showered, brushed his teeth and dressed himself once more.

It wasn't long before Sanji was busily making the preparations for breakfast in the kitchen, which just so happened to be Potato Latke with Smoked Salmon and Watercress Cream for his two favourite ladies, but your average toast and omelettes for the guys. Not that it was favouritism when it came to his crew, it was just that Sanji knew that the ladies actually tasted his cooking when they ate it, whereas the rest of them were like some kind of gluttonous vacuum. Oh how his efforts were wasted.

Amidst the sizzling and the crackling of breakfast, Sanji thought back to last night.  
Remembering Nami's expression still ignited that same sickly feeling in his gut, to which he closed his eyes tightly as he tried to rid himself of it.  
This unpleasant sensation had been growing ever –present as it dawned on him that she'd probably confront him about it sooner rather than later. All he could hope for was that she would do it whilst no one else was around.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. The handle shuffled, and the door unlatched.  
Sanji had a stomach churning feeling that he knew who it was going to be.

There was a long pause, which made him almost sure of who it was.

"…Sanji-kun."

He felt his shoulders tense awkwardly as he braced himself for what was to come, and he put on the most glorious smile that he could at 6:45am.

He turned energetically, "Nami-san!" he held his spatula lovingly in his hands, "How are you this morning? Breakfast will be served in 15 minutes!"  
Despite his regular chirpiness, Nami quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I want to talk about last night."

Sanji looked back to his cooking.

"What exactly…was that?"

She just wanted to confirm what she saw. She wanted to hear Sanji admit it. She didn't want to hear him dancing around the subject , or have to press any further into it. She just wanted to know.

But Sanji's stomach disagreed with this wholeheartedly, and the adrenaline that rushed through his veins began to cloud his better judgment. His lips parted slightly, but his throat closed up. He knew that he had to tell her the truth now, and there was no other option, because she already knew. Sanji knew that he couldn't lie about this.

But he did.

"That…" He laughed slightly, "…it was an accident! I…I slipped…and fell on his face."  
The woman behind him looked far, _far _from amused.

"…You _fell on his face?_" She folded her arms.  
"…Of course!" He said with more ill-placed confidence, "Why would I want to kiss a muscle-headed bastard like him?"

He heard a clunk at the door.

"A bastard like me, huh?"

Sanji's heart stopped momentarily and his blood ran cold. That wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to say that. There was no valid reason for him to lie, yet he did anyway. His own cowardice had overcome him and turned him to a bare-faced liar within seconds.

And everyone in the room knew it.

Sanji turned to face the two of them.  
He could see the disappointment on Zoro's face. He wasn't angry, and he wasn't upset. Sanji instantly knew that he wasn't just a coward, he was a complete and utter _asshole. _He furrowed his brow and hurriedly looked for what to say.

Nami exhaled and sat down at the table.  
"Oi, I-"  
"I _hate_ cowards."

Zoro's words stung like salt to his wounds, but he couldn't deny it. He was such a coward.

Sanji stared at him, but didn't know how to reply. He didn't know where to begin.  
Sanji's thoughtful silence was soon over when Luffy, Usopp and Chopper walked into the room, all still looking half-asleep as they sat down next to Nami at the table. Luffy yawned.

"Saaaaaanji…" He lay his face down and spread his arms out, "Breakfast…"  
Sanji looked at Zoro, who was promptly glaring at him with a rather malevolent frown upon his lips as he sat down, too. The other three late-comers were obviously oblivious to the vastly thick tension in the air, but that was ok. It was better that for now they played it off like nothing had happened.

Sanji sighed.

"Breakfast will be one minute."

Not only did Sanji feel like he'd been stabbed in the heart (which was no doubt his own fault), he had completely embarrassed himself, and couldn't hide it. He scraped the food out onto the plates, still maintaining their perfect presentation despite how appalling he felt and he lay them out alongside the cutlery in front of the crew.

"Eat up."

He sincerely wanted the room to swallow him up.

Everyone ate quietly; partially due to the fact that it was still pretty early in the morning.  
"It's delicious! I want more!" Luffy yelled. Well, at least the room was getting some energy into it. The captain promptly asked for seconds, and then looked at Zoro who was firmly seated across from him, solemnly looking his food. Luffy craned his neck.  
"Aren't you hungry, Zoro? Is there something wrong with your food?" He continued to eat what Sanji readily handed to him.  
"There's nothing wrong with it." Zoro said, pushing the dish in his direction. "You eat it."

From the brief connection to his eyes, Sanji knew what he was trying to do. Robin entered the room followed by Franky and Brook who had most likely met in the corridor, and Sanji quickly lay their dishes down.  
"Excuse me." He said, making his way out of the door, earning a couple of questionable glancing from them.

Nami glanced at Zoro, who remained seated.

She placed her fork down and followed Sanji out of the room, closing the door behind her.  
Before he reached the end of the corridor, she called out.  
"Sanji-kun, wait!"

Sanji rubbed his eyes and waited for her to catch up, then promptly turned around to face her.  
"Nami-san…" He bit his lip, "…I'm so sorry."  
"It's oka-"  
"So sorry that I lied to you. I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you the truth, even though you already knew…I…" Tears beginning to sting his eyes, he looked away, raising a hand to his mouth to stop himself from sobbing. He spoke beneath his hand. "I'm just so sorry. I've never lied to you before. I shouldn't have lied."  
"Sanji-kun, it's fine." But the look on Sanji's face said clearly that everything was not fine, and couldn't be any further from it. He couldn't shake the feeling that now he'd lied once, she would never trust him again. And he felt that he deserved that.

"It's not, it's not fine at all! I lied to you!" He shook his head, "Such a stupid lie…Even Zoro knows now that I'm nothing more than a shitty, good for nothing coward after th-"  
"That's **not** true!" She yelled, stamping her foot down as she took a step closer. "What you did was stupid, but it's alright. I know that you were scared." Nami pulled his hand away from his face, and stroked his cheek. His eyes were reddened and glossy, and she smiled sympathetically as her hand continued its motion. "I was…shocked."

Sanji blinked a few times to clear his vision.  
"It was just a big shock to me."  
He smiled dismally down at her, but he understood.  
"…I was shocked, but I'm okay now. I just want to know one thing."

His smile was quickly shed and he raised his eyebrows.  
"What is it?"

"Are you happy?"

He paused. His silenced turned back into a smile, but his tears returned with it.  
"I…" He pulled her hand away from his face and covered his eyes with his forearm. "…I am. But because of this, I've made Zoro unhappy."  
She laughed.  
"Zoro's just being pissy. He can handle himself." Nami placed her hands on her hips, "…But maybe you should apologise."

Sanji nodded his head.

"…And maybe have a shave while you're at it." She snickered. Sanji stroked his fingers across his bristly jaw and blushed.  
"Oh, I-I must have forgotten this morning…"  
"It's fine." She began walking back to the galley, "That sort of look suits you too. But I guess Zoro will be the one having to put up with that, not me, hm?"

Sanji felt the blush spread up to his ears and he pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it and following behind her.

"…Yeah." He whispered to himself, feeling the smile creep back to his lips. "I suppose so."

The galley was now filled with chatter and the usual morning banter, and Sanji positioned himself at the counter once again, exhaling the build-up of tension in his shoulders and smiling in Zoro's direction. _"I'll apologise after breakfast when everyone's gone." _He thought.

But once everyone was done with breakfast, Franky was the one to pull him to the side.  
"Curly-bro! I need to carry some materials that I reserved yesterday from the store to the ship, I'd appreciate it if you could help take 'em back to the Sunny with me."  
Sanji looked thoughtfully over to Zoro, who was already leaving the room. He watched the door close. _"I'll just have to apologise after this, then."_

Franky looked at him from under his glasses.  
"Yeah, of course! Where's this store?" Sanji asked, plucking the cigarette from his mouth. Franky tapped his chin thoughtfully.  
"About a 20 minute walk from the town centre."  
"Seriously?" Sanji said, clearing the plates away and putting them next to the sink.  
"Yeah, but it won't take too long."

Sanji laughed, gesturing for Franky to lead the way. They left the harbour, mentioning briefly to Chopper who was on deck that they'd be returning shortly. Sanji kept an eye open for Zoro, but he was nowhere to be seen.

They arrived at the store after a 15 minute walk in the pouring rain, and after some idle chat between Franky and the store owner they were on their way back with the first load of materials. Franky carried a hell of a lot more than Sanji did himself, mainly being a stack of heavy metal sheets, whereas Sanji carried a stack of wooden boards and some tools. They hadn't been able to carry it all, so Sanji supposed that they'd be taking a few more trips there-and-back again. It seemed that this trip would be longer than expected.

-x-x-x-

Zoro hopped down from the crowsnest, the rain hitting him hard as he scanned the deck.  
Chopper stood in his raincoat to the far side of the ship.  
"Oi!" Zoro called over the turbulence of the storm that persevered around them, "Where's the cook? I want to ask him something."  
Chopper turned to face him, but the direction in which the wind bellowed forced his hood from off of his head. He yelped, snatching it back up and pulling it down.  
"I think Sanji went with Franky to, uh…" His voice struggled against the wind.  
"Hey now, why're you out here watching the deck in a storm?" Zoro picked him up, casually shielding him from the rain as he walked inside, "You're not fit for standing out there."  
He put Chopper down and closed the door behind them.  
"So, where is he?"  
"Um, I think Sanji and Franky went to go pick up some stuff that he reserved yesterday. Brook said Franky ordered a lot…I don't know when they'll be back…" The tiny reindeer slid his coat off of his arms and shook the remainder of water from his fur. Zoro folded his arms.  
"If there's so much to pick up, why didn't Franky ask me, too?"  
Chopper shook his head. "I'm not sure."

Zoro forcefully opened the door once more. Chopper looked at him baffled for a second, and then immediately grabbed onto his leg.  
"No, Zoro! You're not going to look for them!"  
Zoro sighed, "Why not? They're going to need my help."  
"You'll get lost!" Chopper squeaked as Zoro continued out of the door.  
"Nah, I'll be fine. They're not gonna be hard to miss."  
"But Zoro-!"

The door closed behind him and Chopper was left behind in the silence of the ship. He looked down the hallway, and then padded towards Usopp's inventing room to see if he could get him to convince Zoro to return.

But by now, Zoro was already on the trail to town.  
Or at least, what he thought was the trail.

Well, all he could see were trees. He was in a forest, he knew that much.

He rubbed his arms up and down to create some warm friction, but didn't get much of anything against the harsh wind and water. As much as he wanted to go back and get a coat, he couldn't remember which way he'd came, and he'd been walking for about 10 minutes now.

"…_Shit."  
_The ground was slippery, and he could feel that the further he walked into the forest, the more of a slope he was descending; At this point, he could barely keep his footing.

He had seen when the ship sailed around the shore of the island that there was a lot of raised land, as well as hilly areas and dips that didn't look particularly intimidating at the time, but combined with a heavy downpour of rain and gale-force winds, Zoro wasn't so sure he could progress anymore. He could barely keep his eyes open as the rain lashed out at them.

And then he faltered.  
One foot slid haphazardly to the right, and he skidded down through the mud in an attempt to regain his footing, snagging his bandana on the way. He reached for it desperately, not noticing the bank that he was sliding ever closer towards.

So he fell, crashing into the loose dirt back-first. He attempted to grab onto something that could keep him still, but everything seemed to be moving with him. Rather ungraciously, he tumbled faster down the steep, seemingly, hole in the ground at an ever-quickening pace.

Until there was a sharp thud, and he couldn't see anymore.

He could hear a dull thumping in his ears, and a warmth running over his face.  
But he couldn't move.

He ached, and his head began to throb painfully, and that's when he knew that this was going to be bad.

Zoro lay unconscious in the dirt for another 4 hours from now.


End file.
